Weekend Economists Salute Our (Founding) Fathers June 14-16, 2013

[bread_and_roses]

10. Burr (1973), by Gore Vidal - hilarious on Geo Washington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr

Burr (1973), by Gore Vidal, is a historical novel challenging the traditional iconography[1] of United States history via narrative and a fictional memoir of Aaron Burr. Burr was variously the third US vice president, a US Army officer in and combat veteran of the Revolutionary War, a lawyer and a U.S. senator from New York. In an 1804 duel, while still vice president, Burr killed Alexander Hamilton, who had been the first US Treasury Secretary.

(my emphasis added)

It's been years since I read Burr, but I remember laughing out loud at the depiction of Geo Washington.

It's also apt for this weekend, as the theme of fathers and sons runs through the book.

A major plot thread involves Vice President (and presidential candidate) Martin Van Buren, who is rumored to be Burr's illegitimate son.

And if I remember rightly, the fictional narrator is also an illegitimate son of some character - I forget which one.