Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Shop the sale
In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!
Shop nowA Man and His Presidents
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreWilliam F. Buckley Jr. is widely regarded as the most influential American conservative writer, activist, and organizer in the postwar era. In this nuanced biography, Alvin Felzenberg sheds light on little-known aspects of Buckley’s career, including his role as back-channel adviser to policy makers, his intimate friendship with both Ronald and Nancy Reagan, his changing views on civil rights, and his break with George W. Bush over the Iraq War.
Felzenberg demonstrates how Buckley conveyed his message across multiple platforms and drew upon his vast network of contacts, his personal charm, his extraordinary wit, and his celebrity status to move the center of political gravity in the United States closer to his point of view. Including many rarely seen photographs, this account of one of the most compelling personalities of American politics will appeal to conservatives, liberals, and even the apolitical.
Alvin S. Felzenberg served in two presidential administrations and was principal spokesman for the 9/11 Commission. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and is the author of The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t). He lives in Washington, DC.
Jim Meskimen is a stage, film, and television actor who has appeared in many well-known movies and television shows. He acted in Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon for director Ron Howard, both of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars. His television appearances include The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, and Parks and Recreation. He is also a painter, award-winning audiobook narrator, and audiobook director for Galaxy Audio.
Reviews
“Felzenberg’s fascinating tour de force of research comes at the perfect time in American history, providing a sharp understanding of the continuing attraction of a key figure shaping our politics today.”
“A brisk, groundbreaking examination of Buckley’s history-shaping role as a…political operative.”
“Gracefully written and informative…The passages that provide the most illumination are those in which Felzenberg highlights what Buckley himself described as his greatest achievement: purging the conservative movement of ‘extremists, bigots, kooks, anti-Semites and racists’…[Felzenberg]has produced an accomplished and admiring biography that paints a portrait of a man toiling joyfully to define and elevate a political movement.”
“A well-delineated portrait of an impassioned conservative.”
“History comes alive as this lively and important book takes us on a trip covering Bill Buckley’s views of twentieth-century presidents.”
“Here is the political Buckley, a revelation of range and influence, wit, friendship, inexhaustible letter writing, and a subtle evolution of views. As always with Buckley, love of the language came first.”
Expand reviews