Review of the William F. Buckley biography by Sam Tanenhaus

 

    In junior high, I admired Buckley. By the time I graduated, I did not, but I read his columns as long as he wrote them for vocabulary-building and style.

     Tanenhaus chronicles an interesting career that spanned over half a century. The National Review occupies a large space, as it must, but there is much more to Buckley.

     The only criticism I have, however, concerns the last two decades of Buckley’s life. I would have liked to know more about how he felt about figures like Rush Limbaugh, New Gingrich, and Bill Clinton. Buckley’s criticism of the Iraq War deserved more space, and especially the reaction to it from fellow conservatives.

     The biography is well-researched and well-written, and reminds us of a time when a conservative could be civil toward political opponents; I mean, especially on the Firing Line Television program, not the encounters with Gore Vidal during the 1968 Democratic convention.

-------

My books:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Arthur-Turfa/author/B00YJ9LNOA?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1764082011&sr=1-3&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=3e469d8e-a600-41c7-b6cd-45faf5d82d43

https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county?srsltid=AfmBOoqrGw_TFfmE2y3-g7F6gHNgKk5bfK4YMgCh3AiFvt9Bc-yTmMKq