Synopses & Reviews
Richard Brookhiser wrote his first cover story for
National Review at age fourteen, and became the magazines youngest senior editor at twenty-three. William F. Buckley Jr. was Brookhisers mentor, hero, and admirer; within a year of Brookhisers arrival at the magazine, Buckley tapped him as his successor as editor-in-chief. But without warning, the relation ship souredone 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 ageand of the man who inspired them both.
Review
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 nations 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 conservativismunabashedly honest, deeply wise, and analytically acute. Brookhiser is the prose equivalent of a fine jeweler. With his lapidary style and dazzling metaphors and erudition, hes always a marvel to read.”
Lou Cannon, co-author of Reagans Disciple
Right Time, Right Place is a galloping good readan honest, fast-paced, revealing memoir by one of the conservative movements 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 hes more rounded in this book than in any other I have read.”
Terry Teachout, drama critic of The Wall Street Journal
I thought I knew Bill Buckley. Now I know bettera 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 Buckleys world. Its 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. Brookhisers bout with cancer, which he handled bravely and with grace. Above all, though, its about a young mans education and his teacher.”
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). Ricks personal history with WFB parallels the rise of the conservative movement. And it will not surprise fans of Brookhisers 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, Brookhisers eyes-wide-open appraisal of his mentor is deeply affectionate. Right book, right author.”
Christian Science Monitor
Right Time, Right Place is refreshingly free of spicy score settling and juicy revelations. Instead, readers get tasty morsels of candor caramelized in the sea
Synopsis
A celebrated journalist and historian chronicles his tempestuous relationship with the complex conservative iconand the movement he created
Synopsis
With affection and clarity, Brookhiser tells the story of his friendship with William F. Buckley, Jr. At the same time, the author provides a delightful account of the intellectual and political ferment of the conservative resurgence that Buckley nurtured and led.
Synopsis
Richard Brookhiser wrote his first cover story for the renowned conservative magazine National Review in 1969, when he was fourteen, and became the magazine's youngest senior editor at age twenty-three. William F. Buckley Jr. was Brookhiser's mentor, hero, and admirer--but their relationship was, at times, a troubled one. Brookhiser remained a friend and colleague of Buckley throughout his time at the Review, however, and in Right Time, Right Place, Brookhiser tells the story of that tumultuous relationship with affection and clarity, while also providing a sparkling eyewitness account of the conservative intellectual and political ferment that Buckley nurtured and led.
About the Author
Richard Brookhiser is the author of nine books, including
George Washington on Leadership and
What Would the Founders Do? He is a senior editor of
National Review. He wrote and hosted the PBS documentary
Rediscovering George Washington, and appears frequently on the History Channel and the
Colbert Report. Brookhiser lives in New York City.
www.richardbrookhiser.com