When Gore Vidal died in 2012, “The New York Times” described the National Book Award-winning writer as both “a famous feuder” and someone who “loved conspiracy theories… especially the ones he imagined himself at the center of.” A two-time congressional candidate, Vidal never ran out of opinions, filling 200 essays, 25 novels, and two memoirs when he wasn’t fine-tuning scripts or trading quips with Johnny Carson. To Vidal, style entailed all the ways people project themselves onto the world, imbuing them with confidence.