Neal Freeman, the longtime assistant to William F. Buckley Jr., was once asked what his boss feared most. Freeman responded, “Bill Buckley’s only fear in life is the fear of being bored.”
Sam Tanenhaus’s “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America” affirms the conservative thought leader’s life was anything but boring. In 1998, Buckley tapped Tanenhaus to create an authorized biography, granting him access to private papers that offer a rare glimpse into Buckley’s formative years. The book was 27 years in the making and runs over 1,000 pages. The portrait of Buckley that emerges is a victory of scope over depth.
