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In an era when Republicans are looking for a leader, Flying High is a reminder of how real political visionaries inspire devotion.
This is the journeyman Bill Buckley. Part memoir, part political history and part reportage, Flying Highsparkles with joie de vivre and syntactical expertise, giving lively accounts of Nikita Khrushchev's historic-and theatrical-visit to the United States, the 1960 Republican convention and fallout, and National Review's heady first years. Readers are made privy to Buckley's behind-closed-doors meetings with other right-wing mavens as they debate the John Birch Society, commission Buckley's brother-in-law, Brent Bozell, to ghostwrite The Conscience of a Conservativeand attempt to propel its putative author Goldwater into political office-only to find themselves dramatically excluded from the 1964 campaign. Although the book's scattered time line is slightly jarring (Buckley jumps between the 1964 campaign and affectionate memories of Goldwater), that does not detract from this book's modest and utterly satisfying pleasures. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.William F. Buckley, who died this February, was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. Through his magazine, the National Review, the substantive television talk show he hosted, Firing Line, and his voluminous writings (this is his 51st book), he shaped and nurtured American conservatism. One of the defining moments of the conservative struggle was the 1964 presidential nomination of Arizona senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater's defeat in the election prepared the way for Ronald Reagan, who had actively campaigned for him. Buckley was there from the beginning, first meeting Goldwater and becoming a friend and adviser. He was eminently qualified to write this book, but his note that his work here "is not strictly factual," that he has reconstructed and invented conversations, some of which he was not a party to, is surely problematic. Such an approach is the province of novels, not history. Thus, as a serious political memoir the book must be accepted with a strong caveat. While fans of Buckley will appreciate the charm of his writing, it lacks the energy of some of his earlier work, such as Overdrive: A Personal Documentary. Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus is a worthier choice. An optional purchase for larger political science collections.
—Michael O. Eshleman
Introduction ix
Prologue 1
1 Stirrings in Chicago 9
2 Young Americans for Freedom 21
3 Early Days at National Review 27
4 An Unwelcoming Committee for Khrushchev 35
5 Khrushchev Tours America 39
6 Goldwater-Bozell: Seeking Victory over Communism 53
7 Goldwater and the Labor Unions 59
8 Plotting at Palm Beach 65
9 Flying over the Grand Canyon 71
10 Internal Strife: The Baroody Factor 79
11 "Barry's Going to Run" 85
12 The Conscience of a Conservative 89
13 In the Snows of New Hampshire 103
14 Ebullience in California 111
15 Rockefeller Looks Ahead 125
16 Goldwater's Youth Movement 131
17 The Campaign Strategy 139
18 "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty" 143
19 The Ghost of JFK 155
20 Heading Home 159
21 The Eve of Disaster 163
22 Reagan: A Fresh Star 167
23 The Vision of Karl Hess 171
24 Eisenhower's Steely Analysis 177
25 Flying High 183
Coda 189
Acknowledgments 193
Index 197
Anonymous
Posted May 7, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted March 30, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
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