It will not be easy for any of us who love our country to face the assertions Gore Vidal makes in this book, but this is exactly what we need to wake up from the current miasma of smoke-and-mirrors spin. Perhaps the proliferation of conspiracy theories is a symptom of what we all suspect, but are in denial about. Vidal confronts us with the cold hard facts: 90% of the disbursements of the federal government go to defense; our language has grown decadent and is used to disguise; the corporations control opinion through the conglomerate media; in 1991, 37% of federal revenues (taxes) came from individuals and only 8% from corporations. Reading this book will be worth the anguish it causes you. If Thomas Jefferson could see that his beloved country was being ruled by an elite through armies of lawyers, lobbyists, and paid-for-scientists, he would warn us all that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance; and this is precisely what Gore Vidal is attempting to do.