Buckleys Loved and Loathed

New York Post ^ | December 1, 2008

[Cecily]

Christopher Buckley - whose famous parents, William F. and Pat Buckley, died within months of each other after 57 years of marriage - is coming out with a book about them, "Losing Mom and Pop," in May - and it isn't going to be all sweetness and light.

"Writing this book may have been simply a way of spending more time with my parents before finally letting them go," Buckley, 56, tells Vanity Fair's Bob Colacello in the magazine's January issue.

"I honestly had no intention of writing about them. But I'm a writer, and when the universe hands you material like this, it would seem an act of conscious omission not to do something about it. It spilled out of me. I wrote it in 40 days - no biblical associations intended."

William F. Buckley Jr. was the author of 55 books, the founder of the National Review, a syndicated columnist and the host of PBS' "Firing Line" for 30 years. Pat Buckley, from one of the richest families in Canada, was a pillar of high society whose influence peaked when their friends Ronald and Nancy Reagan were ensconced in the White House.

[Pagey]

Watch This BUMP!

[padre35]

Yeah, it is sort of sad in a way, a book about the admired father by a unremarkable son, that is all he has left to do.

[Verginius Rufus]

There are many reasons why some parents have only one child. Sometimes it’s not a matter of choice. In his case, I’m guessing it’s the Dennis the Menace Syndrome—he was such an awful kid that he soured his folks on having any more.