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Summary: Modern conservatism at your fingertips.....
Review: An admirer of Mr. Buckley for many years, this is precisely the book I have been wishing him to publish. The only drawback here is that it will know doubt need to be updated as I doubt Mr. Buckley has ended his public discourse.Any American interested in public policy and modern conservatism needs to have this book on their shelf. As presumptuous as this may sound, I am also looking forward to at least two more volumes: The Collected Essays and The Collected Debates. My best wishes to Mr. Buckley.
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Summary: A Great Man Speaks
Review: Back in my college days I first saw Bill Buckley in a TV ad imploring me to read NATIONAL REVIEW. He never directly stated the magazines leanings, but promised that they were decidedly different and quite possibly much like my own. He was right on both counts. I've spent the subsequent years reading about every splinter brand of American Conservatism, but Mr. Buckley's views are still most like my own. For this, I can highly recommend this collection. For those of you whose views may substantially differ with Mr. Buckley, I can name a couple of reasons why this book might be of interest. 1) You'll learn the components of a wonderfully given speech. Buckley is able to tie in the locale and group he's speaking to in such a way that it seems that he has been waiting his whole life to give this particular speech at this particular location. 2) He blends humor into the most serious of speeches in such a way that it never seems forced. He's good at relating a particularly good barb leveled at him (laughter) to be followed by an even sharper retort (more laughter). 3) He has a gentle nature that comes through again and again. His overachieving hasn't seemed to get in the way of his many friendships or in the love of his family. I don't know if history will speak of William F. Buckley Jr., 200 years, but any evidence that need be shown to his importance could be summed up in this volume. If you have never read Mr. Buckley this would be a great way to start.
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Summary: An American Original
Review: Bill Buckley is quite simply a man of remarkable gifts who never ceases to make us think. Long before it was fashionable to speak out against communism, Buckley was there making the intellectual and moral case against totalitarianism on the left. When the Berlin Wall came crashing down, Mr. Buckley, as much as any intellectual pundit in the country, had a right to feel proud. When Ronald Reagan became president, Mr. Buckley deserved to take a bow for fashioning a conservative movement (beginning in the 1950s) that was articulate, humane, stylish and at long last empowered. Buckley is known for his wit, his repartee and his unique mannerisms, but what is not known as widely is that he is quite simply one of the kindest public men around -- as anyone who has corresponded with him knows. This collection traces the remarkable intellectual and political journey of one of America's best known writers and personalities. Undergirding all that Buckley writes is a deep and abiding faith in God, country and family. You won't want to miss this great collection.
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Summary: Buckley is a genius
Review: Buckley always makes me think. He is a master orator, and these essays are thought-provoking, as is his usual style. I highly recommend this book, the essays included cover a large period of time in his history as an orator, and you'll be reminded of many substantive events in our history. Great book, extremely well written.
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Summary: If Mr. Buckley will allow, I will take the role of the Ant.
Review: I am a great admirer of Mr. Buckley, which hardly distinguishes me, as those who admire him even though it may pain them to do so are legion. In deference to Mr. Buckley's specificity of language I use legion as defined by Oxford as found within definition number 3. You have only to look at those people who admire and respect him to understand that his thoughts and beliefs go well beyond the moniker of "Conservative". That this is the case is a tribute to his mind, to him as a person, and to the body of written work he has produced and which he continues to expand. He is an accomplished novelist, he can speak as an equal on Constitutional Law when addressing a gathering of judges, and he shared a deeply personal book on his faith in God. His range is not limited to that of an Author, he also is an Orator of Historic talent and near limitless range. As a Debater I always felt those who stepped up to cross swords with him to be fools, willing sacrifices, or both. Or perhaps they picked up the gauntlet so they could say that they did, that they too were a victim of his wit, his intellect, his passion, and his exacting logic of his beliefs. This book covers 50 years of his public speaking and is remarkable for a plenitude of reasons. You will be struck by the consistency that is this man. He knew what he believed in while at Yale, and those beliefs and values are the same to this day. Were we all so consistent, so confident, were our elected leaders even aware of the concept. His facility with the spoken and written word is to be marveled at not derided. His remarks or ripostes are sometimes brutal, but they are forged from belief not hurled as slander. His humor is as brilliant as it is sometimes oh so subtle, and if you challenge, and are not sufficiently armed, you and your position will find company with many other pretenders to his level of thought. At times he was gentle, when asked "Why did we purchase Louisiana, when we got all the other States free? He explained, "that Louisiana was owned by two women, Louise and Anna Wilmot, and that they sold it to General Winfield Scott, provided he name it after them. This was called the Wilmot Proviso, and his closing of the deal was the Dred Scott decision". She answered, "Never mind the details. Why did we let them talk us into it at all?" The mind reels. This book will show him take on as sensitive a moment in our History in front of 6,000 people with an off the cuff questioning of the audience that few would ever attempt and even fewer would survive. You will hear him speak of Family, not in the abstract as a politician, but as a father, a son, a son in law. An accomplished classical musician, a sailor who has crossed several oceans more than once, syndicated writer to 300 papers, orator, advisor to Presidents, a true original. His admirers on the book jacket range from George Will to Michael Kinsley, Henry Kissinger to Milton Friedman. John Kenneth Galbraith summed this work to perfection, "As ever, sheer delight from humor and prose, whatever the political faith". The Ant was part of a speech when Mr. Buckley was to share the dais with a host of speakers that were distinguished to say the least. To justify his presumption to speak he said; "Three days after Pearl Harbor, one day after Germany joined Japan in declaring war on the United States, an agitated State Department Messenger brought President Roosevelt the news that Bulgaria had just declared war against us. "Did you ever," commented Mr. Roosevelt, "hear an ant pass wind in a hailstorm?" A pause..........Bulgaria salutes you. It's how I felt trying to comment on what is just a portion of this man's life and thoughts. He and this work are as others have said before me, National Treasures.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting look at an interesting man.
Review: I don't always agree with what Mr. Buckley has to say; our political tendancies, while not diametrically opposed, are certainly not aligned to any great degree. But he is always interesting, and always well-spoken and erudite. If one wants a look at the thinking behind the Conservative movement, there may be no better place to look than right here.
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Summary: Covers five decades
Review: This book contains 94 of conservative pundit William F. Buckley's speeches from five decades, the 1950s through the 1990s. The 25 speeches from the '50s and '60s are very good and show Buckley at his best as a passionate conservative joining the current-affairs battles of those decades. The speeches from the later decades are uneven; by this point Buckley is secure in his reputation but can sometimes seem ossified. A prime example of this is the speech entitled "Without Marx or Jesus," in which Buckley is called upon to respond to the arguments of French intellectual Jacques Revel. It's clear that Buckley has no idea how to deal with Revel on Revel's own terms and Buckley tends to flee into a discussion of persons and institutions that are obscure today. But when Buckley is asked to orate on a subject friendly to him, he does well, such as in various commencement addresses which are, as David Brooks notes in his introduction, essentially theological orations. But to understand the political background of all the speeches in the last three decades of the last century, it seems that the dictum, "Well, I guess you had to be there," applies.
Rating:
Summary: Covers five decades
Review: This book contains 94 of conservative pundit William F. Buckley's speeches from five decades, the 1950s through the 1990s. The 25 speeches from the '50s and '60s are very good and show Buckley at his best as a passionate conservative joining the current-affairs battles of those decades. The speeches from the later decades are uneven; by this point Buckley is secure in his reputation but can sometimes seem ossified. A prime example of this is the speech entitled "Without Marx or Jesus," in which Buckley is called upon to respond to the arguments of French intellectual Jacques Revel. It's clear that Buckley has no idea how to deal with Revel on Revel's own terms and Buckley tends to flee into a discussion of persons and institutions that are obscure today. But when Buckley is asked to orate on a subject friendly to him, he does well, such as in various commencement addresses which are, as David Brooks notes in his introduction, essentially theological orations. But to understand the political background of all the speeches in the last three decades of the last century, it seems that the dictum, "Well, I guess you had to be there," applies.
Rating: 
Summary: huge buckley fan, but not impressed
Review: this book seems choppy and seems to lack any particular direction. originally, i thought this to be the buckley version of "Strunk and White: Elements of Style" -- but it's not. buy it if you want to see some of Buckley's essays; however, i would recommend going to the archives on the National Review web site.
Rating:
Summary: huge buckley fan, but not impressed
Review: this book seems choppy and seems to lack any particular direction. originally, i thought this to be the buckley version of "Strunk and White: Elements of Style" -- but it's not. buy it if you want to see some of Buckley's essays; however, i would recommend going to the archives on the National Review web site.
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