In an in-depth essay for Vanity Fair, Gore Vidal takes a look at the controversial new biography of Abraham Lincoln by C.A.Trip, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. Vidal, who has himself written a novel about Lincoln, discusses Tripp’s theory that Lincoln was gay and analyzes the evidence, as well as the background of the late author, Trip—a researcher for Alfred Kinsey, whom Vidal knew personally, and whom he feels greatly influenced Tripp’s conclusions. Vidal also discusses the case of the leading Lincoln biographer, David Herbert Donald, who disagrees with the notion that Lincoln was gay.