Buckley

The Life and the Revolution That Changed America

Sam Tanenhaus

$81.95

Hardback

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English

Random House USA Inc
03 June 2025

Biography: general; History

“A magnificent achievement—a long, gripping, and enthralling account of the life of America’s premier conservative polemicist of the twentieth century.”—Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend

“Exposes the roots of the modern conservative movement . . . authoritative . . . As Buckley’s only authorized biographer, Tanenhaus draws from troves of his private papers and extensive interviews with the man himself.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)

In 1951, with the publication of God and Man at Yale, a scathing attack on his alma mater, twenty-five-year-old William F. Buckley, Jr., seized the public stage—and commanded it for the next half century as he led a new generation of conservative activists and ideologues to the peak of political power and cultural influence.

Ten years before his death in 2008, Buckley chose prize-winning biographer Sam Tanenhaus to tell the full, uncensored story of his life and times, granting him extensive interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. Thus began a deep investigation into the vast and often hidden universe of Bill Buckley and the modern conservative revolution.

Buckley vividly captures its subject in all his facets and phases: founding editor of National Review, the twentieth century’s most influential political journal; syndicated columnist, Emmy-winning TV debater, and bestselling spy novelist; ally of Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater; mentor to Ronald Reagan; game-changing candidate for mayor of New York.

Tanenhaus also has uncovered the darker trail of Bill Buckley’s secret exploits, including CIA missions in Latin America, dark collusions with Watergate felon Howard Hunt, and Buckley’s struggle in his last years to hold together a movement coming apart over the AIDS epidemic, culture wars, and the invasion of Iraq—even as his own media empire was unraveling.

At a crucial moment in American history, Buckley offers a gripping and powerfully relevant story about the birth of modern politics and those who shaped it.

By: Sam Tanenhaus
Imprint: Random House USA Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 1.443kg
ISBN: 9780375502347
ISBN 10: 0375502343
Pages: 1024
Publication Date: 03 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sam Tanenhaus, the former editor of The New York Times Book Review, is the author of the national bestseller Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His feature articles and essays have appeared in the Atlantic, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and many other publications in the U.S. and abroad. He is currently a contributing writer for the Washington Post.

Reviews for Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America

“Sam Tanenhaus’s Buckley is a magnificent achievement—a long, gripping, and enthralling account of the life of America’s premier conservative polemicist of the 20th century. I couldn’t put it down, and was sorry when it ended. The same will be true of anyone interested in American politics. You cannot understand the rise of the conservative movement in modern America without understanding the life of William F. Buckley Jr., and you cannot understand Buckley’s long and eventful life without reading Sam Tanenhaus’s deeply researched and profoundly insightful magnum opus.”—Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend