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An American Family: The Buckleys
An extraordinary and sweeping memoir of one of the most revered families in America -- the BuckleysThe Buckley name is synonymous with a unique brand of conservatism -- marked by merciless reasoning, wit, good humor, and strong will. Self-made oil tycoon William F. Buckley, Sr., of Texas, and his Southern belle wife, Aloise Steiner Buckley, of New Orleans, raised a family of ten whose ideals would go on to shape the traditionalist revival in American culture.
But their family history is anything but conventional. Begun in Mexico (until their father was expelled) and set against a diverse inter-national background (the children's first languages were Spanish and French) with colorful guest stars (such as Pancho Villa, and Norman Mailer), theirs was a life built on self-reliance, hard work, belief in God, and respect for all. It is no wonder the family produced nationally recognizable figures such as columnist and commentator William, Jr., "New York Times" bestselling satirist Christopher, and New York senator James.
With charm and candor, youngest son Reid, himself the founder of the Buckley School of Public Speaking in South Carolina, tells the enormously engaging and entertaining -- sometimes outrageous -- story of a family that became the mainstay of right-wing belief in our politics and culture. "An American Family" is an epic memoir that at once will appeal to conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike.
But their family history is anything but conventional. Begun in Mexico (until their father was expelled) and set against a diverse inter-national background (the children's first languages were Spanish and French) with colorful guest stars (such as Pancho Villa, and Norman Mailer), theirs was a life built on self-reliance, hard work, belief in God, and respect for all. It is no wonder the family produced nationally recognizable figures such as columnist and commentator William, Jr., "New York Times" bestselling satirist Christopher, and New York senator James.
With charm and candor, youngest son Reid, himself the founder of the Buckley School of Public Speaking in South Carolina, tells the enormously engaging and entertaining -- sometimes outrageous -- story of a family that became the mainstay of right-wing belief in our politics and culture. "An American Family" is an epic memoir that at once will appeal to conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
480 pages, Hardcover
First published May 13, 2008
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64 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 28, 2018
I made resolutions to read 35 books this year, so I’ll do my best to document them here. # 1 — “An American Family: The Buckley’s” by Reid Buckley, brother of the late William F. Buckley (aka one of the intellectual godfathers of American conservatism). This book is essential reading for those in politics—especially those in conservative / libertarian circles. It chronicles William F. Buckley Sr.’s story—from working in oil, to encountering Pancho Villa, to raising 10 children—including WFB—and his reverence for hunting, family, faith (Catholicism), and freedom . This intertwining of unique encounters with interesting public figures splashed with family stories will pique readers’ interests.
It’s a lengthy read at 400+ pages, but is an indelible read.
1 down, 34 to go! Any recommendations for 2018? Send my way!
It’s a lengthy read at 400+ pages, but is an indelible read.
1 down, 34 to go! Any recommendations for 2018? Send my way!
July 21, 2008
I love biographies; I usually learn something about myself. This one is especially well-written and humorous.
July 1, 2018
Well, here I am, at the opposite end of the political spectrum of the Buckley clan, and I must say I enjoyed Reid's family history very much.
"Boy, can those Catholics write."
I heard Reid Buckley in an interview on "Morning Joe" (if you don't watch "Morning Joe", you're missing a great early morning show!) a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't know much about the Buckley family - aside from their conservative magazine and other "nefarious" enterprises. But Reid made his family sound so interesting, that I bought his book. And enjoyed reading it.
It's good to learn about the "other side", and enjoy myself while doing it. By the way, Reid, hopefully we liberals can start to straighten out the problems you conservatives have put us in for the last seven years.
But, of course, I did come away from reading your book with the feeling that you don't quite approve of the Bush years any more than I do. George Bush is not the "true" conservative you and your family are. There's a lot of lamenting to be done...on both sides.
"Boy, can those Catholics write."
I heard Reid Buckley in an interview on "Morning Joe" (if you don't watch "Morning Joe", you're missing a great early morning show!) a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't know much about the Buckley family - aside from their conservative magazine and other "nefarious" enterprises. But Reid made his family sound so interesting, that I bought his book. And enjoyed reading it.
It's good to learn about the "other side", and enjoy myself while doing it. By the way, Reid, hopefully we liberals can start to straighten out the problems you conservatives have put us in for the last seven years.
But, of course, I did come away from reading your book with the feeling that you don't quite approve of the Bush years any more than I do. George Bush is not the "true" conservative you and your family are. There's a lot of lamenting to be done...on both sides.
April 9, 2010
"An American Family: The Buckleys," is the story of a youthful and ambitious clan that grew great together with the young and ambitious country in which they lived.
We have before us a gaggle of children born with the 20th Century. Children reared by proper and upright parents who accepted nothing less than perfection from them. In exchange they gained lives on sprawling estates with names like "Great Elm," and "Kamschatka."
They pursued overseas educations and employed nannies who alternately taught French and administered castor oil. They rode horses, walked their property lines shooting quail and rabbits...
Of course, the Buckleys were not just any American family. the large brood of William Sr., and Aloise grew up to be a rather potent bunch who left their traces upon the thin ice of American culture.
This story charts trajectories of the famed conservative ideologue William Jr., the one-term Conservative Party senator from New York, James, and a bevy of other sisters and brothers in lesser, if equally loving, detail.
Nonetheless, brother Reid's real purpose here is scripting a Valentine to his parents. He crafts a recollection demonstrating the strength of their imprint on the offspring.
"Our bonding as a family of individuals has expressed itself in the social, spiritual, and intellectual dimensions in astonishing degree," the author writes. "Though we differ widely among ourselves, and almost always, when coming together, argue fiercely, it's often as though the ten of us were extruded from the same toothpaste tube."
Which is to say, not a single one of The Buckley's sprawling progeny strayed from the family's profound Catholicism or credo of self-reliance.
Buckley's mom has an interesting background out of old New Orleans, a sturdy character with positive energy, and discrete charms, and Buckley canonizes her in the way those of us who love our mothers do.
But the chestnut here is Bill Sr.
For those of you who thought the Buckleys were a blue-blooded crowd with fake English accents out of Connecticut, the family’s southern, even Confederate, roots may come as something of a surprise.
Big Buckley hailed out of deep south Texas and made his first bundle of serious money in, of all places, Mexico. There he successfully "wildcatted," for oil and helped develop Tampico before his catholic principles ran afoul of the new revolutionary (and anti-clerical) government, which threw him out of the country.
Dad was forced to "start all over," but not in the way most of us would, which is why his story is worth a read.
Buckley lived large for a number of years, popping children hither and thither, housing them in impressive realty, without letting on that his was a shirtsleeve operation. He eventually struck some more oil in Venezuela. Only then was the future security and prominence of the family America came to know was assured.
The children's textured lives in Texas, Mexico, Connecticut and South Carolina make for worthy recounting and Reid, like all the lucky long-lived, enjoys the reserved grace of explaining a disappeared world to us.
An accomplished, if not widely celebrated novelist, Buckley's well-developed mind and pen combine to render credentialed insight regarding Mexico. He is, too, great at recalling the eccentric and authentic characters populating his past, delighting and reveling in them.
He is looking back on a fulfilling and eventful life.
The book's lure may dim for some when Reid Buckley steps aside to punch in an article written by one or another of his many siblings about the good old days, which they certainly were.
He declares conservatism, such has the clan purveyed, dead. And the brainy Buckleys do not appear to have much in common with that breed of rural no-nothing carrying the banner today.
"On the ideological level, we inherited an anachronism that we have tried lifelong to defend and perpetuate," he writes of the family's run through American politics. "Vain endeavor. Our parents were the product of a nation that has vanished, and we, their children, have manned the ramparts in defense of that ghost. From this standpoint, our existences have been futile, our works folly."
Indeed, "An American Family," views the world through the dark lens of an aged fellow looking backward, weighed down by the loss of so much family and so many contemporaries. It is a tome that loves the past.
His parents' time, he notes, "was the age of American infallibility. How lucky they were, both of them, born to the simultaneous emergence of our country from its international status as an exotic experiment in a faraway and uncouth region of the globe to become economically and militarily the central power on earth."
Reid Buckley is something of a fuddy-duddy. He seems proud of it, and even makes it look good. He likes what he likes, and don’t be surprised if your lifestyle or personal philosophy doesn‘t meet with his approval.
The things he approves of, and the type of person he admires, are gone from the scene, and this book recuperates their memory one last time.
We have before us a gaggle of children born with the 20th Century. Children reared by proper and upright parents who accepted nothing less than perfection from them. In exchange they gained lives on sprawling estates with names like "Great Elm," and "Kamschatka."
They pursued overseas educations and employed nannies who alternately taught French and administered castor oil. They rode horses, walked their property lines shooting quail and rabbits...
Of course, the Buckleys were not just any American family. the large brood of William Sr., and Aloise grew up to be a rather potent bunch who left their traces upon the thin ice of American culture.
This story charts trajectories of the famed conservative ideologue William Jr., the one-term Conservative Party senator from New York, James, and a bevy of other sisters and brothers in lesser, if equally loving, detail.
Nonetheless, brother Reid's real purpose here is scripting a Valentine to his parents. He crafts a recollection demonstrating the strength of their imprint on the offspring.
"Our bonding as a family of individuals has expressed itself in the social, spiritual, and intellectual dimensions in astonishing degree," the author writes. "Though we differ widely among ourselves, and almost always, when coming together, argue fiercely, it's often as though the ten of us were extruded from the same toothpaste tube."
Which is to say, not a single one of The Buckley's sprawling progeny strayed from the family's profound Catholicism or credo of self-reliance.
Buckley's mom has an interesting background out of old New Orleans, a sturdy character with positive energy, and discrete charms, and Buckley canonizes her in the way those of us who love our mothers do.
But the chestnut here is Bill Sr.
For those of you who thought the Buckleys were a blue-blooded crowd with fake English accents out of Connecticut, the family’s southern, even Confederate, roots may come as something of a surprise.
Big Buckley hailed out of deep south Texas and made his first bundle of serious money in, of all places, Mexico. There he successfully "wildcatted," for oil and helped develop Tampico before his catholic principles ran afoul of the new revolutionary (and anti-clerical) government, which threw him out of the country.
Dad was forced to "start all over," but not in the way most of us would, which is why his story is worth a read.
Buckley lived large for a number of years, popping children hither and thither, housing them in impressive realty, without letting on that his was a shirtsleeve operation. He eventually struck some more oil in Venezuela. Only then was the future security and prominence of the family America came to know was assured.
The children's textured lives in Texas, Mexico, Connecticut and South Carolina make for worthy recounting and Reid, like all the lucky long-lived, enjoys the reserved grace of explaining a disappeared world to us.
An accomplished, if not widely celebrated novelist, Buckley's well-developed mind and pen combine to render credentialed insight regarding Mexico. He is, too, great at recalling the eccentric and authentic characters populating his past, delighting and reveling in them.
He is looking back on a fulfilling and eventful life.
The book's lure may dim for some when Reid Buckley steps aside to punch in an article written by one or another of his many siblings about the good old days, which they certainly were.
He declares conservatism, such has the clan purveyed, dead. And the brainy Buckleys do not appear to have much in common with that breed of rural no-nothing carrying the banner today.
"On the ideological level, we inherited an anachronism that we have tried lifelong to defend and perpetuate," he writes of the family's run through American politics. "Vain endeavor. Our parents were the product of a nation that has vanished, and we, their children, have manned the ramparts in defense of that ghost. From this standpoint, our existences have been futile, our works folly."
Indeed, "An American Family," views the world through the dark lens of an aged fellow looking backward, weighed down by the loss of so much family and so many contemporaries. It is a tome that loves the past.
His parents' time, he notes, "was the age of American infallibility. How lucky they were, both of them, born to the simultaneous emergence of our country from its international status as an exotic experiment in a faraway and uncouth region of the globe to become economically and militarily the central power on earth."
Reid Buckley is something of a fuddy-duddy. He seems proud of it, and even makes it look good. He likes what he likes, and don’t be surprised if your lifestyle or personal philosophy doesn‘t meet with his approval.
The things he approves of, and the type of person he admires, are gone from the scene, and this book recuperates their memory one last time.
May 28, 2009
This book was more about name dropping and personal idealogy than a story of a family. I was deeply disappointed with this book. My criticism is not based on our differing ideologies. I went into this book with the full knowledge that our societal beliefs are polar. My interest was in learning what life influences made them who they are. I would have enjoyed hearing more about this family and less about the writer's personal agenda. R. Buckley does more pontificating than story telling. The book was not a total loss. I enjoyed learning about the early life of WFB Sr. His early years spent in Mexico were fascinating. He was truly a self-made man and I enjoyed his feistiness. While reading I also wondered who the author thought his target audience was. The Buckley's are undisputably intelligent but who did the author think he could reach with his million dollar words, most of which were archaic, and frequent use of foreign words and phrases with no footnote as to translation. I am an avid reader and pride myself on a large vocabulary, but it is ridiculous to need a dictionary by your side to get through a page. And talk about verbose... why say it in 10 words when you can say it in 25?
August 18, 2008
This is a witty, well-written "biography" of the Buckley family unique in its form. Reid Buckley, the youngest Buckley male (there were 10 kids) wrote this using an unconventional prose style and predictably challenging vocabulary. (Bring your dictionary) His footnotes on occasion, are over a half page in length but redefine nonfiction footnoting. Hardly the factual boring reference Reid's footnotes are humorous and always enlightening.
This is a loving tribute to a somewhat public family, who, like all of us, have had their share of trials and tragedy. What they most certainly possessed was a unshakeable sense of family, honor, faith and patriotism. Perhaps Reid is correct in assuming that many of his parents values are no longer relevant in today's world. We can only hope he is wrong.
This is a loving tribute to a somewhat public family, who, like all of us, have had their share of trials and tragedy. What they most certainly possessed was a unshakeable sense of family, honor, faith and patriotism. Perhaps Reid is correct in assuming that many of his parents values are no longer relevant in today's world. We can only hope he is wrong.
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July 30, 2013'Reid not only laments the toll mortality has taken on his family but the inexorable decline of the principles for which the family fought. He refers to “the conservative (now lost) cause” and writes, “Our parents were the product of a nation that has vanished, and we, their children, have manned the ramparts in defense of that ghost. From this standpoint, our existences have been futile, our works folly.” Offsetting the gloom somewhat are Reid’s closing lines: “We loved and did our best to honor our parents. We love one another. Our children are a joy to us. And for the rest, we trust in Christ and Christ’s promises. How lucky we have been!” An American Family gives proof of that enduring bond.'
Read the full review, "Conservatism's First Family," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...
Read the full review, "Conservatism's First Family," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...
July 20, 2010
I have always been interested in the Buckley family and so found this memoir by the youngest Buckley son very interesting. I am not sure that it would be of much interest if you didn't already like the family. Very accomplished family, very loving father and mother.
October 15, 2015
A book about the Buckleys and Reid Buckley's memories of growing up in a large, loving family. Enjoyed it more and more as I read. (Thanks to the makers of "The Best of Enemies" for keeping Reid Buckley's bit in the film, providing my first exposure to him.)
October 29, 2008
Well written family account. It's nice to have money.
August 11, 2008
Kept trying to read this, and finally put it down for good. Didn't care for it.
February 7, 2009
Another book probably more appreciated by the conservative crowd (like me). Wm F. Buckley was a hero of mine. His son blurbed my first novel. I like this book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews