Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater [Hardcover]

William F. Buckley Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2008

If any two people can be called indispensable in launching the conservative movement in American politics, they are William F. Buckley Jr. and Barry Goldwater. Buckley’s National Review was at the center of conservative political analysis from the mid-fifties onward. But the policy intellectuals knew that to actually change the way the country was run, they needed a presidential candidate, and the man they turned to was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was in many ways the perfect choice: self-reliant, unpretentious, unshakably honest and dashingly handsome, with a devoted following that grew throughout the fifties and early sixties. He possessed deep integrity and a sense of decency that made him a natural spokesman for conservative ideals. But his flaws were a product of his virtues. He wouldn’t bend his opinions to make himself more popular, he insisted on using his own inexperienced advisors to run his presidential campaign, and in the end he electrified a large portion of the electorate but lost the great majority. Flying High is Buckley’s partly fictional tribute to the man who was in many ways his alter ego in the conservative movement. It is the story of two men who looked as if they were on the losing side of political events, but were kept aloft by the conviction that in fact they were making history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is the journeyman Bill Buckley. Part memoir, part political history and part reportage, Flying High sparkles with joie de vivre and syntactical expertise, giving lively accounts of Nikita Khrushchev's historic—and theatrical—visit to the United States, the 1960 Republican convention and fallout, and National Review's heady first years. Readers are made privy to Buckley's behind-closed-doors meetings with other right-wing mavens as they debate the John Birch Society, commission Buckley's brother-in-law, Brent Bozell, to ghostwrite The Conscience of a Conservative and attempt to propel its putative author Goldwater into political office—only to find themselves dramatically excluded from the 1964 campaign. Although the book's scattered time line is slightly jarring (Buckley jumps between the 1964 campaign and affectionate memories of Goldwater), that does not detract from this book's modest and utterly satisfying pleasures. (May)
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From Booklist

Buckley’s recent death casts a valedictory shadow over his posthumously published tribute to the man who, for an entire generation, gave American conservatism its most recognizable public face. In his own inimitable style—elegant yet edgy—the crown prince of conservative intellectuals recounts the decisive events that forged the paradoxical Barry Goldwater presidential campaign of 1964. Though doomed to an abysmal electoral defeat, that campaign galvanized the conservative cadres who would go on to decades of political triumph. Predictably, Buckley highlights his own role in formulating Goldwater’s right-wing agenda and in promulgating that agenda through the magazine (National Review) he founded. More surprising for many readers will be the story of how Goldwater’s landmark political credo Conscience of a Conservative took shape through one of National Review’s carefully groomed correspondents acting as the author’s ghostwriter. Yet it was Goldwater’s own indomitable personal courage that converted a paper-and-ink philosophy into an unforgettable public presence, inspiring bold new hopes among the conservative Republicans who rallied to his banner. Buckley particularly highlights the unlikely circumstances that allowed a relatively new Republican convert—a B-movie actor named Ronald Reagan—to deliver a riveting speech in the waning hours of Goldwater’s ill-fated presidential run. A compelling reminder that individual personality still matters in the modern world of mass politics. --Bryce Christensen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (April 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465008364
• ISBN-13: 978-0465008360
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the perfect Goldwater Revolution book, June 13, 2008

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater (Hardcover)

The year was 1964 - President Kennedy had been martyred, and now-President Johnson looked unassailable. However, there was one man on the Conservative side who seemed willing to carry the flag, and seek to turn back the tide of Liberalism that was flowing out of Washington DC - Barry Goldwater, Au H2O. And there was one man who was always there, even if he wasn't the man the cameras were pointed at, Conservative author and thinker, William F. Buckley, Jr.

This is a "what I saw at the revolution" type book. In a short, but informative narrative, Mr. Buckley takes us behind the scenes, showing who did what, and when, and why. I must admit to being largely ignorant of Barry Goldwater, but I found this book to be intriguing and informative, keeping me turning the pages and watching those heady days unfold.

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. It is short and easy to read, and yet packs quite a wallop - there is no unnecessary detail or wasted verbiage here! If you are interested in Barry Goldwater and/or where the modern Conservative movement came from, then you should get this book. I think that it is probably the perfect Goldwater Revolution book, and I give it my highest recommendations.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flying in the eye of the storm, June 21, 2008

By 

Bill Wood "Perimeter reader" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed reading William Buckley through the years, whether it was his fiction with Blackford Oakes as the protagonist or his somewhat self-indulgent mini-autobiographies. His writing style is absolutely captivating.

Flying High is a great read if you have any interest at all in the emergence of the modern day conservative movement. In light of the current political season and two candidates that are essentially trying to claim that they are moderate, or at the very least not on the extreme ends of the continuum as a liberal or a conservative, the story of conservatives not ashamed to identify themselves as such is somewhat refreshing.

I am struck by the sheer force of character and the price that is paid to be a person of character, particularly in the world of rough and tumble politics. If you have never read anything about Goldwater, this would be a good start and you will no doubt want to read The Conscience of a Conservative, actually ghost written by Brent Bozell, though released under Goldwater's name.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snapshots of a Pivotal Moment in Time, June 1, 2008

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater (Hardcover)

Taking small snapshots, William F. Buckley, Jr., delivers a wonderful portrait of a pivotal time in American politics and journalism.

From the 100 student activists who were part of the foundation to the modern conservative movement, to the oftentimes hilarious controversies caused by (wannabe) political insiders and adding new twists to key moments which may have faded from the pages of history, the 208 pages prove that richness is not only found in thick volumes.

The friendship of Senator Barry Goldwater and Buckley, Jr., are found on each page, but this is a story of two extraordinary personalities who pushed away the clouds and reached to the blue sky, due to the realization that a revolution in political culture could be had over time by flying high.