Happy Days Were Here Again: Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist - Hardcover

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925 2008) was the author and editor of over fifty works of fiction and nonfiction. The founder and former editor-in-chief of National Review and former host of Firing Line,” he was one of the intellectual leaders of the right from the 1950s until his death in 2008. His syndicated column, On the Right,” was begun in 1962. He served as a CIA agent in the early 1950s, helped found the Young Americans for Freedom in 1960, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H.W. Bush in 1991. His most recent work of nonfiction, FlyingHigh, an appreciation of Barry Goldwater, was published by Basic Books in 2007.

It's interesting to note, in these days of political realignment, that--per the subtitle--Buckley now seems to be calling himself a ``libertarian'' rather than a ``conservative''- -though you wouldn't know it from the almost invariably middle-of- the-road to left-leaning targets he spits darts at in this generous collection of National Review columns (1985-93), speeches, and essays from Playboy, The New York Times, and elsewhere. First up is a 1985 column on Carl Sagan, knocked here for letting his fear of nuclear winter overwhelm any fear of Soviet domination--though within Buckley's acerbic critique lies, as usual, a saving grace of humor: ``Carl Sagan gave a half hour's performance [before a Congressional committee] so arrogant he might have been confused with, well, me.'' Last up is a 1985 tribute to Ronald Reagan (``As an individual you incarnate American ideals at many levels''). In between, in pieces arranged thematically rather than chronologically, Buckley mostly targets, but sometimes trumpets, student protestors, Idi Amin, female would-be combat soldiers, fundamentalists, Bush (``His Supreme Preppiness''), Gorbachev, Castro, the Sandinistas, Charles and Diana, Dinesh D'Souza, and nearly every other high-profile political and moral icon or straw man of the era. It's a bravura performance, albeit one indelibly marked by Buckley's perpetually righteous, and right-wing, stance. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.