| Acknowledgments | xiii |
| Foreword | xvi |
| Notes from the Lecture Circuit: A New Yorker Essay | xxi |
| The Fifties | |
| Today We Are Educated Men: An address to fellow graduates | 3 |
| The Trojan Horse of American Education?: A defense of private schools | 7 |
| The Artist as Aggressor: On congressional investigations | 13 |
| Only Five Thousand Communists?: Welcoming the House Committee on Un-American Activities to town | 16 |
| Should Liberalism Be Repudiated?: Debating James Wechsler | 20 |
| The Sixties | |
| In the End, We Will Bury Him: Protesting Khrushchev's visit | 33 |
| Scholar, Fighter, Westerner: Introducing Jacques Soustelle | 38 |
| The Lonely Professor: Saluting O. Glenn Saxon | 41 |
| An Island of Hope: Defending Taiwan's independence | 42 |
| Norman Mailer and the American Right: A debate | 48 |
| What Could We Learn from a Communist?: An appeal to the Yale Political Union | 58 |
| Who Did Get Us into This Mess?: Debating Murray Kempton | 68 |
| The Impending Defeat of Barry Goldwater: Off the record, to the Young Americans for Freedom | 74 |
| A Growing Spirit of Resistance: To the New York Conservative Party | 78 |
| The Free Society--What's That?: Applauding Henry Hazlitt | 85 |
| Buckley versus Buckley: A self-interview, on running for mayor of New York | 88 |
| The Heat of Mr. Truman's Kitchen: Celebrating National Review's tenth anniversary | 93 |
| On Selling Books to Booksellers: Addressing the American Booksellers Association | 96 |
| The Aimlessness of American Education: In defense of small colleges | 100 |
| "You Have Seen Too Much in China": To a concerned organization | 108 |
| The Duty of the Educated Catholic: To a high-school honors society | 112 |
| Did You Kill Martin Luther King?: To the American Society of Newspaper Editors | 117 |
| Life with a Meticulous Colleague: Saluting William A. Rusher | 123 |
| On the Perspective of the Eighteen-Year-Old: To graduating high-school students | 128 |
| Words to the Counterrevolutionary Young: Addressing the Young Americans for Freedom | 133 |
| The Seventies | |
| On the Well-Tempered Spirit: A commencement address | 145 |
| Resolutely on the Side of Yale's Survival: At a twentieth reunion | 149 |
| The Republic's Duty to Repress: To a conference of judges | 152 |
| "That Man I Trust": Appreciating James L. Buckley | 163 |
| The World That Lenin Shaped: On visiting Brezhnev's Soviet Union | 168 |
| John Kerry's America: To the cadets of West Point | 179 |
| The West Berlin of China: Upon Taiwan's expulsion from the United Nations | 184 |
| Affection, Guidance, and Peanut Brittle: A special toast | 189 |
| On Preserving the Tokens of Hope and Truth: Saluting Henry Regnery | 191 |
| Without Marx or Jesus?: To the American Society of Newspaper Editors | 197 |
| The "Leftwardmost Viable Candidate": Debating John Kenneth Galbraith | 202 |
| The Terrible Sadness of Spiro Agnew: To the New York Conservative Party | 208 |
| The High Cost of Mr. Nixon's Deceptions: To the New York Conservative Party | 211 |
| On Serving in the United Nations: Testimony to a Senate committee | 213 |
| No Dogs in China: At the National War College | 218 |
| The Courage of Friedrich Hayek: Addressing the Mont Pelerin Society | 223 |
| The Protracted Struggle against Cancer: To the American Cancer Society | 235 |
| A Salutary Impatience: A commencement address | 238 |
| Cold Water on the Spirit of Liberty: Replying to President Carter | 242 |
| The Reckless Generosity of John Chamberlain: A tribute | 249 |
| A Party for Henry Kissinger: A birthday toast | 252 |
| What Americanism Seeks to Be: To the Young Republicans | 255 |
| The Eighties | |
| His Rhythms Were Not of This World: Remembering Allard Lowenstein | 261 |
| The Rudolph Valentino of the Marketplace: Saluting Milton Friedman | 263 |
| The Greatness of James Burnham: To a friend and mentor | 268 |
| Halfway between Servility and Hostility: At a historic college | 272 |
| Earl Warren and the Meaning of the Constitution: Addressing a class of future lawyers | 275 |
| Sing a Song of Praise to Failure: At a graduate business school | 277 |
| How Leo Cherne Spent Christmas: An introduction | 287 |
| 10 Downing Street: The Girls Club of Britain: A transatlantic salute | 290 |
| Moral Distinctions and Modern Warfare: Parsing nuclear war | 292 |
| Democracy and the Pursuit of Happiness: A commencement address | 301 |
| The Genesis of Blackford Oakes: On the distinctively American male | 308 |
| Waltzing at West 44th Street: An ode to the America's Cup | 316 |
| The Blood of Our Fathers Ran Strong: Celebrating National Review's thirtieth anniversary | 320 |
| The Distinguished Mr. Buckley: Introducing a best-selling novelist | 322 |
| On Her Way to the Cross: Remembering Clare Boothe Luce | 324 |
| Out of Oppression, a Political Poet: Introducing Vladimir Bukovsky | 329 |
| The Massive Eminence of Dr. Sakharov: A salute | 332 |
| Towards a Recovery of Gratitude: To the Intercollegiate Studies Institute | 334 |
| A Hero of the Reagan Revolution: Applauding Jack Kemp | 337 |
| The Pagan Love Song of Murray Kempton: An appreciation | 339 |
| The Nineties | |
| Dismantling the Evil Empire: On the end of the Soviet Union | 347 |
| The Simon Persona: A tribute to a critic | 351 |
| A Distinctive Gentility: Recollections of Yale | 353 |
| Time to Go to Bed: A valedictory | 360 |
| Taxation and the Rule of Law: Analyzing Reaganomics | 364 |
| Can Eastern Europe Be Saved?: To the Philadelphia Society | 369 |
| Singularly Humane: Introducing Aileen Mehle | 375 |
| "If He Gives the Blessing...": A toast to Monsignor Eugene Clark | 378 |
| We Won. What Now?: At the end of the Cold War | 380 |
| The Politics of the Common Man: On modern political manners | 383 |
| "Better Redwoods than Deadwoods": Encountering Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | 387 |
| The Architectural Splendor of Barry Goldwater: A tribute | 389 |
| From Wm to Wm: Remembering William F. Rickenbacker | 392 |
| O. J. Simpson and Other Ills: Analyzing current concerns | 397 |
| The Drug War Is Not Working: To the New York City Bar Association | 404 |
| Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: To the twelfth International Churchill Conference | 409 |
| The Underperformance of the Press: The Theodore H. White Memorial Lecture | 416 |
| The Mother Hen of Modern Conservatism: Introducing Lady Thatcher | 426 |
| Who Cares If Homer Nodded?: To the graduating class | 429 |
| How to Work, How to Read, How to Love: Remembering Richard Clurman | 434 |
| A Serene Gravity: Acknowledging Walter Cronkite | 435 |
| The Special Responsibility of Conservatives: To the International Conservative Congress | 437 |
| The Personal Grace of J. K. Galbraith: A birthday tribute | 443 |
| A Man Who Looks the Beggar in the Face: Saluting William E. Simon | 445 |
| Forgiving the Unforgivable: On President Clinton's problem | 447 |
| The Animating Indiscretions of Ronald Reagan: A birthday tribute | 457 |
| Preserving the Heritage: On the Heritage Foundation's twenty-fifth anniversary | 464 |
| Index | 479 |