Let Us Talk of Many Things: The Collected Speeches
544Let Us Talk of Many Things: The Collected Speeches
544eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780786726899 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Basic Books |
Publication date: | 10/28/2008 |
Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 544 |
Sales rank: | 864,304 |
File size: | 769 KB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments | xiii | |
Foreword | xvi | |
Notes from the Lecture Circuit: A New Yorker Essay | xxi | |
The Fifties | ||
Today We Are Educated Men: An address to fellow graduates | 3 | |
The Trojan Horse of American Education?: A defense of private schools | 7 | |
The Artist as Aggressor: On congressional investigations | 13 | |
Only Five Thousand Communists?: Welcoming the House Committee on Un-American Activities to town | 16 | |
Should Liberalism Be Repudiated?: Debating James Wechsler | 20 | |
The Sixties | ||
In the End, We Will Bury Him: Protesting Khrushchev's visit | 33 | |
Scholar, Fighter, Westerner: Introducing Jacques Soustelle | 38 | |
The Lonely Professor: Saluting O. Glenn Saxon | 41 | |
An Island of Hope: Defending Taiwan's independence | 42 | |
Norman Mailer and the American Right: A debate | 48 | |
What Could We Learn from a Communist?: An appeal to the Yale Political Union | 58 | |
Who Did Get Us into This Mess?: Debating Murray Kempton | 68 | |
The Impending Defeat of Barry Goldwater: Off the record, to the Young Americans for Freedom | 74 | |
A Growing Spirit of Resistance: To the New York Conservative Party | 78 | |
The Free Society--What's That?: Applauding Henry Hazlitt | 85 | |
Buckley versus Buckley: A self-interview, on running for mayor of New York | 88 | |
The Heat of Mr. Truman's Kitchen: Celebrating National Review's tenth anniversary | 93 | |
On Selling Books to Booksellers: Addressing the American Booksellers Association | 96 | |
The Aimlessness of American Education: In defense of small colleges | 100 | |
"You Have Seen Too Much in China": To a concerned organization | 108 | |
The Duty of the Educated Catholic: To a high-school honors society | 112 | |
Did You Kill Martin Luther King?: To the American Society of Newspaper Editors | 117 | |
Life with a Meticulous Colleague: Saluting William A. Rusher | 123 | |
On the Perspective of the Eighteen-Year-Old: To graduating high-school students | 128 | |
Words to the Counterrevolutionary Young: Addressing the Young Americans for Freedom | 133 | |
The Seventies | ||
On the Well-Tempered Spirit: A commencement address | 145 | |
Resolutely on the Side of Yale's Survival: At a twentieth reunion | 149 | |
The Republic's Duty to Repress: To a conference of judges | 152 | |
"That Man I Trust": Appreciating James L. Buckley | 163 | |
The World That Lenin Shaped: On visiting Brezhnev's Soviet Union | 168 | |
John Kerry's America: To the cadets of West Point | 179 | |
The West Berlin of China: Upon Taiwan's expulsion from the United Nations | 184 | |
Affection, Guidance, and Peanut Brittle: A special toast | 189 | |
On Preserving the Tokens of Hope and Truth: Saluting Henry Regnery | 191 | |
Without Marx or Jesus?: To the American Society of Newspaper Editors | 197 | |
The "Leftwardmost Viable Candidate": Debating John Kenneth Galbraith | 202 | |
The Terrible Sadness of Spiro Agnew: To the New York Conservative Party | 208 | |
The High Cost of Mr. Nixon's Deceptions: To the New York Conservative Party | 211 | |
On Serving in the United Nations: Testimony to a Senate committee | 213 | |
No Dogs in China: At the National War College | 218 | |
The Courage of Friedrich Hayek: Addressing the Mont Pelerin Society | 223 | |
The Protracted Struggle against Cancer: To the American Cancer Society | 235 | |
A Salutary Impatience: A commencement address | 238 | |
Cold Water on the Spirit of Liberty: Replying to President Carter | 242 | |
The Reckless Generosity of John Chamberlain: A tribute | 249 | |
A Party for Henry Kissinger: A birthday toast | 252 | |
What Americanism Seeks to Be: To the Young Republicans | 255 | |
The Eighties | ||
His Rhythms Were Not of This World: Remembering Allard Lowenstein | 261 | |
The Rudolph Valentino of the Marketplace: Saluting Milton Friedman | 263 | |
The Greatness of James Burnham: To a friend and mentor | 268 | |
Halfway between Servility and Hostility: At a historic college | 272 | |
Earl Warren and the Meaning of the Constitution: Addressing a class of future lawyers | 275 | |
Sing a Song of Praise to Failure: At a graduate business school | 277 | |
How Leo Cherne Spent Christmas: An introduction | 287 | |
10 Downing Street: The Girls Club of Britain: A transatlantic salute | 290 | |
Moral Distinctions and Modern Warfare: Parsing nuclear war | 292 | |
Democracy and the Pursuit of Happiness: A commencement address | 301 | |
The Genesis of Blackford Oakes: On the distinctively American male | 308 | |
Waltzing at West 44th Street: An ode to the America's Cup | 316 | |
The Blood of Our Fathers Ran Strong: Celebrating National Review's thirtieth anniversary | 320 | |
The Distinguished Mr. Buckley: Introducing a best-selling novelist | 322 | |
On Her Way to the Cross: Remembering Clare Boothe Luce | 324 | |
Out of Oppression, a Political Poet: Introducing Vladimir Bukovsky | 329 | |
The Massive Eminence of Dr. Sakharov: A salute | 332 | |
Towards a Recovery of Gratitude: To the Intercollegiate Studies Institute | 334 | |
A Hero of the Reagan Revolution: Applauding Jack Kemp | 337 | |
The Pagan Love Song of Murray Kempton: An appreciation | 339 | |
The Nineties | ||
Dismantling the Evil Empire: On the end of the Soviet Union | 347 | |
The Simon Persona: A tribute to a critic | 351 | |
A Distinctive Gentility: Recollections of Yale | 353 | |
Time to Go to Bed: A valedictory | 360 | |
Taxation and the Rule of Law: Analyzing Reaganomics | 364 | |
Can Eastern Europe Be Saved?: To the Philadelphia Society | 369 | |
Singularly Humane: Introducing Aileen Mehle | 375 | |
"If He Gives the Blessing...": A toast to Monsignor Eugene Clark | 378 | |
We Won. What Now?: At the end of the Cold War | 380 | |
The Politics of the Common Man: On modern political manners | 383 | |
"Better Redwoods than Deadwoods": Encountering Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | 387 | |
The Architectural Splendor of Barry Goldwater: A tribute | 389 | |
From Wm to Wm: Remembering William F. Rickenbacker | 392 | |
O. J. Simpson and Other Ills: Analyzing current concerns | 397 | |
The Drug War Is Not Working: To the New York City Bar Association | 404 | |
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: To the twelfth International Churchill Conference | 409 | |
The Underperformance of the Press: The Theodore H. White Memorial Lecture | 416 | |
The Mother Hen of Modern Conservatism: Introducing Lady Thatcher | 426 | |
Who Cares If Homer Nodded?: To the graduating class | 429 | |
How to Work, How to Read, How to Love: Remembering Richard Clurman | 434 | |
A Serene Gravity: Acknowledging Walter Cronkite | 435 | |
The Special Responsibility of Conservatives: To the International Conservative Congress | 437 | |
The Personal Grace of J. K. Galbraith: A birthday tribute | 443 | |
A Man Who Looks the Beggar in the Face: Saluting William E. Simon | 445 | |
Forgiving the Unforgivable: On President Clinton's problem | 447 | |
The Animating Indiscretions of Ronald Reagan: A birthday tribute | 457 | |
Preserving the Heritage: On the Heritage Foundation's twenty-fifth anniversary | 464 | |
Index | 479 |
What People are Saying About This
This is Buckley at his eloquent best-his patented combination of icy wit with a deeply serious intellectual analysis. In these speeches-which include everything from Buckley's Class Day Remarks at Yale in 1950, to eulogies, debates and commencement addresses-there emerges the history of social change and political upheaval in this half century. But this is no languorous look back, no mellow memoir: These entries were written and spoken in the heat of battle, and they show it. Ignoring the maxim de mortuis nihil nisi bonum, Buckley skewers two generations of frauds, mountebanks, fellow travelers, and just plain liberals. But you can't read just one. In fact, I bet you can't resist reading entry after entry aloud just for the sheer fun of it.
A remarkable and moving record of a passionate life devoted to the cause of freedom-a record not by a third party or based on recollection, but embedded in a cornucopia of eloquent, speeches capturing the spirit of the time.
Peter Robinson, Hoover Institution
Let Us Talk of Many Things is an astonishing book. Each speech is completely, compellingly, wonderfully readable--every single one of them.
Ed Koch
Reading Bill Buckley's collected speeches, which cover the last half of the 20th century, is an exhilarating experience. The cogency of his arguments and his delivery are so extraordinarily persuasive that if this collection is as widely read as it should be, it will cause havoc in liberal salons. This is one of the few books devoted to the thoughts of one person that will be read from cover to cover.
Andrew Ferguson, The Weekly Standard
In one of the speeches collected here, Bill Buckley instructs a class of eighteen-year-olds on their paramount responsibility-to enjoy yourself as you go. There lies the key to Buckley's extraordinary career, which like this book spans a half century (and counting), from pre-Korea to post-Lewinsky. Whether as novelist, editor, prose stylist, or public speaker, he always makes clear the pleasure he derives from intellectual engagement. The pleasure is infectious, and anyone who reads this exhilarating book will catch it too.
Walter Cronkite
The book is perfect for either the bathroom or a desert island-either for a quick fix or the one book for a lifetime of isolation.
Bill Buckley, master wordsmith, takes us on an enchanting journey through the years. Wonderful wit and wisdom, given in eloquent prose.
William Buckley does indeed talk here of many things, with deft mention of the many cabbages and kings that he has addressed politically over these years. As ever, sheer delight from humor and prose, whatever the political faith.
Readers of all persuasions will read this splendid anthology for sheer pleasure. Wise historians will study it as an invaluable guide to the intellectual life of our times.
George Will
Since young Buckley took Yale to task almost 50 years ago, he has been taking the English language out for invigorating romps. As a result, his collected speeches are a high-spirited tour through the great controversies that have shaped both politics and culture. If you doubt that, or wonder why it is that Bill Buckley is the most consequential journalist and most skillful controversialist of our time, this delightful volume is for you. It is also for any reader who relishes wit in the service of moral convictions.