“I had more or less resolved not to write a book about my parents. But I’m a writer, and when the universe hands you material like this, not writing about it amounts either to waste or a conscious act of evasion.” So begins award-winning satirist Christopher Buckley in the most personal and transcendent work of his life, the tragicomic true story of the year in which both of his parents died. In twelve months between 2007 and 2008, Buckley coped with the passing of his father, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York’s most glamorous and colorful socialites. He was their only child and their relationship was close and complicated. Writes Buckley: “They were not — with respect to every other set of loving, wonderful parents in the world — your typical mom and dad.” As Buckley tells the story of their final year together, he takes readers on a surprisingly entertaining tour through hospitals, funeral homes, and memorial services, capturing the heartbreaking and disorienting feeling of becoming a fifty-five-year-old orphan. Buckley maintains his sense of humor by recalling the words of Oscar Wilde: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.” Christopher Buckley offers consolation, wit, and warmth to those coping with the death of a parent, while telling a unique personal story of life with legends.
Blending the skewering genius of Thank You For Smoking with Dr. Strangelove's dark comedy, They Eat Puppies Don't They? has something to offend -- and amuse -- everyone.
Charley’s way of doing business leaves no room for negotiation. But ‘wet work’—the shooting of a victim from up close—is only half the story and the further up the chain Charley gets, the higher the stakes become.
Buckley recounts the perils, petty and major aggravations, and social frictions he experienced during a voyage in his schooner Cyrano, with his son and friends, from Miami, Florida, to Marbella, Spain
Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government ...
At the heart of the story is Wendy's glamorous and aloof mother who, after her husband's suicide, travels the world in search of the perfect sea and ski tan, leaving her three children in the care of a chain- smoking Scottish nanny, Fifth ...
Published to rave reviews, No Way to Treat a First Lady is a hilariously warped love story for our time set in the funniest place in America: Washington, D.C.
At about this time the first James Bond movie appeared, in which Sean Connery memorably orders the barman: “Vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred.” “Shaken, not stirred” entered the language as the sine qua non of sophistication.
Witty and poignant, Right Time, Right Place tells the story of a young man and a political movement coming of age -- and of the man who inspired them both.
The third of Bill Buckley's brilliant sailing books, chronicling his 4,000-mile voyage across the Pacific with four close friends, including his son and a photographer. 150 black-and-white and 35 color photographs.
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PEOPLE AND USA TODAY • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Nobody blows smoke like Nick Naylor.