The Smithsonian Institution: A Novel - Softcover

Vidal, Gore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156006480 ISBN 13: 9780156006484

Publisher: Mariner Books, 1999

Synopsis

It's 1939, and a teenage math genius is mysteriously summoned to the Smithsonian Institution, where a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted in the basement. The boy turns out to hold the key to both the secrets of nuclear fission and breakthroughs in the time continuum. As he brainstorms with Robert Oppenheimer, he catches a glimpse of the coming war and becomes determined to ward off the cataclysm. In a race against time-and surrounded by figures from American history past and present, including Albert Einstein, Grover Cleveland, and Abraham Lincoln-he battles to save not just himself, but humanity. Gore Vidal has written some of the finest and most inventive novels in modern times. Readers of such bestsellers as Burr, Lincoln, Duluth, and 1876 will revel in this, his latest foray into the American scene. A brilliant and vividly imaginative tale about some of the key events of the twentieth century, The Smithsonian Institution is a dramatic masterwork of com

About this title

About the Author:

Gore Vidal is the author of many bestselling novels including Julian, Burr, Myra Breckinridge, and Lincoln. He lives in Italy.

From AudioFile:

The TV broadcast of "A Visit to a Small Planet" gave a wide public its first exposure to satirist, political observer and TV commentator Gore Vidal. Like "Visit," Smithsonian is satire in the form of science fiction. A young scientist is called to "the nation's attic" to help change history, alongside vivified wax figures of America's favorite heroes. One can hear the author's distinctive voice in every line. However, one cannot hear much of that voice in Steve Pietrofesa's performance. Aside from misreading a few lines and some odd pronunciations, he reads well enough, adopting a light air befitting a work of humor. Yet he totally lacks the irony and dry, fey wit that distinguish the author. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0156006480
• ISBN 13: 9780156006484
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272