Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement

by Richard Brookhiser

Overview

Richard Brookhiser wrote his first cover story for National Review at age fourteen, and became the magazine's youngest senior editor at twenty-three. William F. Buckley Jr. was Brookhiser's mentor, hero, and admirer; within a year of Brookhiser's arrival at the magazine, Buckley tapped him as his successor as editor-in-chief. But without warning, the relation ship soured -- one day, Brookhiser returned to his desk to find a letter from Buckley unceremoniously informing him "you will no longer be my successor."

Brookhiser remained friends and colleagues with Buckley despite the breach, and in Right Time, Right Place he tells the story of that friendship with affection and clarity. At the same time, he provides a delightful account of the intellectual and political ferment of the conservative resurgence that Buckley nurtured and led.

Witty and poignant, Right Time, Right Place tells the story of a young man and a political movement coming of age -- and of the man who inspired them both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786747863
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	06/09/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	392 KB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and the author of eleven books, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, American, and Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Just as Buckley flitted in and out of Brookhiser’s life, he flits in and out of this book. The result is that Brookhiser adds only a little more to an understanding of Buckley than he does to the history of conservatism. … Instead, Right Time, Right Place is mostly a profile of the author himself - a talented man whose genial memoir is likely to leave readers asking for more.
—The New York Times

Alan Brinkley

Brookhiser pays a fond farewell to the conservative icon…his lyrical meditation on the intersection of his own life and that of his "lost leader" will move the most hardened Nation subscriber.
—The Washington Post

Justin Moyer

National Review senior editor Brookhiser (George Washington on Leadership, 2008, etc.) recalls his writing life. No history of the modern conservative movement would be complete without a healthy chapter on William F. Buckley's opinion magazine, National Review, founded in 1955. Brookhiser's adolescence coincided perfectly with that of the magazine-in 1970, at the remarkable age of 14, he published his first article there. The author arrived early enough on the NR scene to absorb the in-house lore surrounding the likes of Whittaker Chambers, James Burnham, Russell Kirk, Garry Wills and other contributors. Rising quickly from summer intern to writer, managing editor and, at 23, senior editor, Brookhiser was tapped to succeed Buckley as editor-in-chief. The author was stunned to have the offer unexpectedly withdrawn a few years later. Baffled and resentful, he embarked on a new career as a freelancer and historian, never severing his ties to the magazine or to Buckley. He enjoyed the steady paycheck, of course, but as this memoir makes clear, life at NR was just too interesting and too much fun. Brookhiser's wonderfully conversational, occasionally confessional, frequently witty account contains numerous stories about the magazine's daily operations and its rise from the political margins to the white-hot center of the Reagan Revolution. Sprinkled throughout are amusing snapshots of the startling array of talent-Paul Gigot, George Will and Terry Teachout, among many others-who passed through its doors. More than anything, though, Brookhiser reflects on his maturation as a thinker, writer and a man who for too long measured his worth against the glittering Buckley, his spiritual father,inspiration, boss and friend. Old enough now to appreciate the misunderstandings on both sides, chastened by a bout with cancer and distinguished in his own right as a historian, Brookhiser's eyes-wide-open appraisal of his mentor is deeply affectionate. Right book, right author.

Kirkus Reviews

Mona Charen
“Absorbing reading.... [A] gripping tale.... Brookhiser tells the story of his relationship with WFB...straightforwardly and honestly.... [A] fascinating look back (how does he remember so many details?) at a 30-year friendship and collaboration (part of which I witnessed first hand). Rick's personal history with WFB parallels the rise of the conservative movement. And it will not surprise fans of Brookhiser's biographies that this memoir is a brilliant and beautifully written history of the past several decades.”

Publishers Weekly
“[Brookhiser] deftly sets his personal and professional biography in a sharply observed historical and intellectual context, while sharing his deep affection for – and occasional resentment of – Buckley with compelling candor.”

Kirkus Review (starred review)
“[W]onderfully conversational, occasionally confessional, frequently witty.... More than anything, though, Brookhiser reflects on his maturation as a thinker, writer and a man who for too long measured his worth against the glittering Buckley, his spiritual father, inspiration, boss and friend. Old enough now to appreciate the misunderstandings on both sides, chastened by a bout with cancer and distinguished in his own right as a historian, Brookhiser's eyes-wide-open appraisal of his mentor is deeply affectionate. Right book, right author.”



Terry Teachout, drama critic of The Wall Street Journal
“I thought I knew Bill Buckley. Now I know better—a lot better. But Right Time, Right Place is more than just a poignant, startlingly frank memoir of a remarkable man. It is also a portrait of a pivotal moment in American political and intellectual life, seen through the eyes of a gifted writer who saw it all happen and knew what he was seeing. Anyone who wants to understand how and why the conservative movement changed America will have to reckon with this book.”

Wall Street Journal
“In Right Time, Right Place, Mr. Brookhiser tells the story of his rise and fall in Buckley's world. It's an admiring, but not always flattering, portrait of the most prolific public intellectual of his time.”

Washington Times
“[T]his is a beautifully written book, rich in character and anecdote, with good political reporting and a dispassionate account of Mr. Brookhiser's bout with cancer, which he handled bravely and with grace. Above all, though, it's about a young man's education and his teacher.”



Michael Medved, talk radio host and author of The 10 Big Lies About America
“A stirring and enormously readable account that provides a valuable reminder of the ability of a single individual to bend the course of history and alter, forever, a nation's thinking.”

Rich Lowry, editor of National Review
“Richard Brookhiser has written a wonderful memoir that is a personal history of National Review and of contemporary conservativism—unabashedly honest, deeply wise, and analytically acute. Brookhiser is the prose equivalent of a fine jeweler. With his lapidary style and dazzling metaphors and erudition, he's always a marvel to read.”

Lou Cannon, co-author of Reagan's Disciple
“Right Time, Right Place is a galloping good read—an honest, fast-paced, revealing memoir by one of the conservative movement's best writers. William F. Buckley emerges as a real human being, warts and all, and not just the Conservative Saint. Of course, Buckley is that, too, but he's more rounded in this book than in any other I have read.”

From the Publisher