One of the best and well written biographies I have read. I learned so much more about William F. Buckley,, Jr. than I thought I knew. Sam Tanenhaus has done an excellent job!

This is a biography of the pundit William F. Buckley, Jr.. Buckley was a conservative political commentator, the epitome of pundit and total lexiconizing crush-object for anyone like me. The only thing that kept me from full blown fanboyism is my dysthemia and I am still trying to do his shtick. Starting with Buckley's first book, God and Man at Yale, the Ur-text of all books on campus controversies, he would start the National Review in his goal to create an insurgent political magazine and alternative to the more leftward high-class reporting. He would go on to host Firing Line, a political editorializing interview show that is so deeply in the genes of the modern media landscape as to be invisible, and wrote On the Right, a popular syndicated column. Buckley is the architect of the contemporary U.S. political Right, while also in so esteemed a position that he could operate as a critic of it.

Buckley has a legacy of being the adult in the room, the principled and erudite branch of the conservative party, particularly in contrast to the washed-up performers who make up the corpus of contemporary commentary. The biography dismantles all of that. It is a dry text, but it seems so out of necessity. If I understand correctly this project has been in the works for over a decade, and it shows with the sense of the need to impart volumes of information. This overrides any particular them about the subject of the biography, excluding that the author likes the Uno Reverse Card school where a virtue or vice must be followed in immediate succession by its opposite.

The author gets into Buckley's anti-Semitic and anti-Black background (via his family) and the way that the National Review and his writing projects were about pulling the Republican party further right in things like his adoration of McCarthy and hatred of Eisenhower, through to his surprising and somewhat covered up part in Watergate. Buckley's later career breaks with the consensus that put him more in the radical centrist school (much like David Brooks, whom he trained), and there is something of a running theme about how much he has changed his views as opposed to his methods. Buckley on race, and trying to discern what changed, if anything changed, is a topic for the future.

I cannot call a 1000 page book too short and still look myself in the mirror, but the closing part of Buckley's career gets a quick glance as compared to the rest, to the point that I feel it suspicious. It reads as pathos, the Cold Warrior trying to hold by moving into writing Tom Clancy fan fiction, but it also provides a thesis for his career: Buckley had shockingly crude comments about AIDS, that are then contrasted with his personal treatment of queer people and how same thought about him and his opinions as worthwhile. Like you want to be able to say that this was a person who was master at separating out the private and the political, who could perform at being a jerk while then being a square dealer after the fact. Instead, it leaves the feeling that his life is a ruse. Buckley is the swamp in a populist sense. He affirms the idea of The Establishment as a thing by virtue of the way that he was able to freely move within it. That he was also a segregationist is a feature, not a bug.

As such, the book shakes up the usual routine of him as the elevated form of pundit that would later be replaced by bombast and grift. Instead, Buckley is we have Matt Walsh at home. It is a totally different sense of profound disappointment than I expected, and not a factor of the ultimate quality of the book, though, perhaps misgivings about what the book treats insufficiently. In general, I think it a strong book as evidenced by the volume here. Faced with so many topics that could be books of their own it still manages an explanation that covers a topic like the National Review as a whole, Buckley's variability on race, or his story-worthy family in a comprehensive way.

My thanks to the author, Sam Tanenhaus, for writing the book, and to the publisher, Random House, for making the ARC available to me.

Review: Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus

There are two key takeaways from this book: first, William F. Buckley Jr. was a product of extreme privilege, and second, this biography is long, detailed, and often slow-moving.

Tanenhaus presents Buckley as a sharp-witted intellectual, but what stands out most is how much of his success was bankrolled by his father. From childhood through adulthood, Buckley had every advantage—elite education, financial security, and a built-in platform to spread his views. Without his family’s wealth, it’s hard to imagine him achieving the same level of influence. Yet, despite this silver-spoon upbringing, Buckley had no problem passing judgment on others, often with an elitist and exclusionary mindset.

The book itself is well-researched but drags in several places. Tanenhaus dedicates a lot of time to Buckley’s early years, and while that context is important, the pacing suffers. The narrative picks up when Buckley enters public life, but even then, the exhaustive level of detail might test a reader’s patience.

For those who love in-depth political biographies like John Adams or The Power Broker, this book will likely be rewarding. But if you’re looking for a sharper, more engaging read, you might find Buckley to be more of a slog than a revelation.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing a free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I never could stand Mr. Buckley's style, but his viewpoints were hard not to agree with. I enjoyed reading this book.