Gore Vidal Reported Dead at 86

Vidal was a literary juggernaut who wrote 25 novels, including historical works such as "Lincoln" and "Burr" and satires such as "Myra Breckinridge" and "Duluth."

Gore Vidal, the iconoclastic writer, savvy analyst and imperious gadfly on the national conscience, has died. He was 86.

Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills of complications of pneumonia, said nephew Burr Steers.