Burr: A Novel by Gore Vidal is a piece of historical fiction that has much of its basis in fact and over ten years of research into the lives of those discussed in the book. The main character is a young law clerk named Charlie Schuyler. Charlie is also an aspiring writer and journalist and uses his position as Burr's law clerk to accumulate information about Burr's past life. When the novel opens, Burr is seventy-seven years old and has lived through the Revolutionary War, a vice presidency, a duel that killed his rival, Alexander Hamilton, and a trial for treason against the United States for conspiring to separate the western states from the union. Charlie's friend and mentor, William Leggett, is the editor of the Evening Post, a newspaper that covers all things political. Leggett w... (read more)
