Two years after his death, William F. Buckley’s message lives on

Rich Trzupek at Big Journalism ^[1] wrote an interesting piece ^[2] about William F. Buckley, who died two years ago.  

As Trzupek notes in his piece, Buckley spawned and inspired a new generation of conservative and libertarian thought.

As a teenager growing up in South Philadelphia, I read Buckley’s books and his magazine, National Review, and watched his TV show Firing Line, all of which served as a good counter-balance to the overwhelming liberal view I was exposed to in school, on TV, and in newspapers and other magazines.  

Buckley also wrote a good series of spy thrillers,  which featured the CIA and the American military as the good guys.  In the series, Buckley infused Cold War history and politics and employed historical figures as his heroes and villains. 

I was pleased that I was able to review  ^[3] his last thriller, Last Call for Blackford Oakes, for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I hope that Buckley read my favorable review.

I also reviewed ^[4] Buckley’s last book, The Reagan I Knew, for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I learned a good bit from Buckley and today’s political pundits – on the left as well as the right – can still learn from William F. Buckley.