Overview

More than two decades in the making, the definitive biography of William F. Buckley Jr. tells the story of America's greatest conservative and the rise and fall of the movement he led. ""A magnificent achievement-a long, gripping, and enthralling account of the life of America's premier conservative polemicist of the twentieth century.""-Max Boot, author of Reagan- His Life and Legend ""A rich, immersive biography exposes the roots of the modern conservative movement through the life of the firebrand writer and commentator who shaped it.""-The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR- The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Financial Times, Telegraph (UK), Christian Science Monitor, Air Mail, Prospect Magazine LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD In 1951, with the publication of God and Man at Yale, a scathing attack on his alma mater, twenty-five-year-old William F. Buckley, Jr., seized the public stage-and commanded it for the next half century as he led a new generation of conservative activists and ideologues to the peak of political power and cultural influence. Ten years before his death in 2008, Buckley chose prize-winning biographer Sam Tanenhaus to tell the full, uncensored story of his life and times, granting him extensive interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. Thus began a deep investigation into the vast and often hidden universe of Bill Buckley and the modern conservative revolution. Buckley vividly captures its subject in all his facets and phases- founding editor of National Review, the twentieth century's most influential political journal; syndicated columnist, Emmy-winning TV debater, and bestselling spy novelist; ally of Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater; mentor to Ronald Reagan; game-changing candidate for mayor of New York. Tanenhaus also has uncovered the darker trail of Bill Buckley's secret exploits, including CIA missions in Latin America, dark collusions with Watergate felon Howard Hunt, and Buckley's struggle in his last years to hold together a movement coming apart over the AIDS epidemic, culture wars, and the invasion of Iraq-even as his own media empire was unraveling. At a crucial moment in American history, Buckley offers a gripping and powerfully relevant story about the birth of modern politics and those who shaped it.

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Reviews

“Sam Tanenhaus’s Buckley is a magnificent achievement—a long, gripping, and enthralling account of the life of America’s premier conservative polemicist of the 20th century. I couldn’t put it down, and was sorry when it ended. The same will be true of anyone interested in American politics. You cannot understand the rise of the conservative movement in modern America without understanding the life of William F. Buckley Jr., and you cannot understand Buckley’s long and eventful life without reading Sam Tanenhaus’s deeply researched and profoundly insightful magnum opus.”—Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend

Author Information

Sam Tanenhaus, the former editor of The New York Times Book Review, is the author of Buckley- The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, The Death of Conservatism, and Whittaker Chambers- A Biography (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize). His feature articles and essays have appeared in the Atlantic, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and many other publications in the U.S. and abroad. He is currently a contributing writer for the Washington Post.

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