Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography (with CD)

Rating:
Summary: Not as inspirational as most autobiographies, but good.
Review: Aaaah, William F.Buckley, the erudite American with the faux British accent and devilish (some would say perverse) glare, master maligner of the English language and scathing critic of the left. Aaaah, Buckley, author of a thousand wordy books, host of a thousand wordy Firing Lines. At age 80, Buckley favors his fans with "Miles Gone By", a collection of previously written essays which taken together uniquely form what he smartly describes as a "literary" autobiography.

There are essays of his childhood days growing up in the family estate in upper Westchester, then attending Rugby games at Yale, then developing an interest in Yachting, and then of course, essays covering his experiences as a conservative commentator and television personality and hanging out with the likes of Whittaker Chambers, Jack Kerouac, Rowan and Martin and Jay Leno.

The audio CD is especially enjoyable, covering the music that influenced his life. Selections include Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express, Love is Like A Buttefly by Dolly Parton, She-Bop by Cyndi Lauper, Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby and That's The Way by KC and the Sunshine Band, to list only a few of the golden nuggets provided here.

The essays on yachting are easily the most boring. I have never understood why his yachting experiences were turned into books. I recall there was even a painfully boring tv show about his yachting. I mean, come on..the guy likes to yacht...not much you can write about that. But Buckley managed to write hundreds of pages about it and turned it into these essays and even a whole book, describing the great spiritual exhiliration and his connection with nature and describing in excruciating detail every pelican, compass, turn of the sail, piece of driftwood, gust of wind and sunset he ever experienced. It's just too much.

But the rest of it, if you're a Buckley fan, is an OK read. I mean, it's not exactly an inspirational rags to riches story filled with tales of poverty, desperation, personal tragedies and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit or anything like that. It's basically about a boy who was born into a wealthy family and went to an ivy league school and did a lot of yachting and then became a wordy critic of the left. So if you know Buckley and like that sort of thing, then you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Appropriate
Review: I always thought of Buckley has having four careers. He was of course that TV fellow that talked funny and look down his nose at his guests and viewers on a show that was very successful - Firing Line; he was that business man, writer, and publisher that started the National Review; he wrote fiction spy novels, and he wrote his sailing stories.

Most people would be happy and content to achieve just one of those undertakings. One might imagine that running the National Review for all those years and keeping it fresh was an enormous challenge. I never agreed with all the stories in the NR and conservatives are now much more complicated people but if you think it is easy to start something like the NR, try starting your own national magazine.

In any case I read many of his books and very much appreciated his sailing books. His book on crossing the Pacific "Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage" was one of the best sailing books ever written. Hence the quote by John Kenneth Galbraith, who "consistently writes pleasant tributes to my own books, inevitably advising the reader that my political opinions should be ignored, my fiction or accounts of life at sea appreciated". Maybe you have to be a sailor to understand his books but it is unlikely.

In terms of a biography it would be very difficult for Buckley to achieve the same level of literary excellence in a biography that he might write today as compared to some of his many past writings. So in the end his collection of selected writings speak for themselves and are most appropriate. He does not need a conventional autobiography - his writing for those of us that have read his books are perfect. We understand that was always his strength.

How can one really criticize this book? The CD for myself was not needed. Incidentally and it is not really the same but George Plimpton came out with a similar series of stories which he called - a readers collection - in the book "George Plimpton on Sports" also available at Amazon.com, published in 2003. I read that book also and thought it was excellent and often very funny but less autobiographical. It is the same idea but for some reason it was never a best seller as the present book appears to be.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read, an interesting life
Review: I am only a quarter of the way through this book, but I have been happily surprised at the wonderful stories and relevant topics that are contained. I really know nothing of Mr. Buckley, and was hesitant to purchase at first, but then I decided to take a chance and to pick it up.
This is one chance that paid off.
Though Buckley is known for his conservative ideology, this book offers so much more. I was particularly touched by the writings about his family.
In this world of deceptive and slanted political books (just look at the number of liberal books available), this is a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended.