SOLD Vidal is snarky and elitist but clever and amusing. he covers only the interesting bits and it"s fascinating; offers his personal impressions of Venice, recounts its long history, and describes the paintings, sculpture, and architecture of the city. Gore Vidal presents a personal history of Venice from Casanova to his own ancestors. Contents: 1). The face of Venice. 2). In the beginning. 3). The birth of an empire. 4). The mercantile city and its people. 5). The turning of the tide. 6). The flowering of the arts. 7). Coryate in seventeenth-century Venice. 8). Canvival and decline. 9). Venice and the Romantics. 10). The city today1st pr of 1985 first edition, Gore Vidal, ed, George Armstrong, With over 100 full colour photos by Torr Gill