text: Morris has written a model biography of a woman who , if born a man , could easily have been a President , says Luce 's friend Gore Vidal in The New Yorker . Reviews dwell on the book 's dishy detail , derived from Luce 's diaries .
  
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  Morris 's book is a pure fiction about a woman who was woefully inadequate in every way , says Gore Vidal in the National Review .