We’ve got a few copies left of Happy Days Were Here Again, Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist — the hard-to-find collection of Bill Buckley’s columns from 1985 to 1993. This week, when you order the 470-plus page hardcover edition (what remains of the private stash Bill kept in the now-emptied NR basement) — it costs only $24.99, which includes shipping and handling — we’ll also send you, with our compliments, a copy of our acclaimed and privately published 2008 book, WFB: The Tribute (a wonderful collection of editorials, columns obituaries, reflections, and other writings paying tribute to the late Bill Buckley).
Among its many entries of a complete transcript of the long and profound reflection on Bill by his good friend, Rush Limbaugh, who had this to say about Happy Days when it was first published:
The collection, which includes the masterly “Redefining Smart,” is pure pleasure. I dare you to dip into it anywhere without becoming captivated by the bracing prose, the hard-edged political analysis, the gleeful puncturing of modern cultural idiocy. Most compelling, as always, is the logic, the point-by-point, flawless construction of each case. The notorious vocabulary sparkles everywhere, but the words hang on the strongest chain of unassailable argument.
Not to mention the rough art of the retort. In addition to his skills as polemical swashbuckler, regularly replying to barbs in what sounds like very acid Latin, Buckley is a deft street fighter, in one ease dismissing a Washington Post pundit’s point with the useful: “What c-r-a-p.” More power to him. (That piece, “His Supreme Preppiness,” also contains one of my favorite Buckley lines: “the black lady who is alternately fat and thin, I forget her name.”)
Again, there are just a few copies remaining of Happy Days Were Here Again, Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist — make sure this important book, and NR’s WFB tribute collection, while supplies last. Order now at the NRO Store.