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blikesbikes's review against another edition
5.0
This is an excellent and well researched book about American conservatism and the civil rights movement. Arguments made today are firmly rooted in Baldwin and Buckley’s work.
nategass's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastic read for many reasons. Begins as a quick but adequately thorough bio of two of the most important figures in modern American thought, then surveys the careers and writings that shot both into the spotlight as spokesmen for opposing sides of the Civil Rights Movement.
It is an ingenious move to analyze race and specifically the black freedom struggle through a distillation of these two disparate intellectuals' views, climaxing in an actual historical face-off. The chapter on the televised Cambridge debate is hard to put down.
Buccola's method builds an engrossing plot around which you naturally sink into the ideas and themes of both figures. Their lives and words become allegories that illustrate, better than anything else I've read, the ideological and rhetorical impasse we cannot seem to overcome still to this day.
Baldwin won the debate and for good reason. To this day his prophecies continue to cut through the fog with alarming clarity.
"For Baldwin, one's love for the country was revealed by one's willingness to "criticize her perpetually." Buckley's love was a love of devotion, much like a child's love for his parents. Baldwins love was a love of confrontation. "Love is a battle," he insisted, "love is war. Love is growing up."
It is an ingenious move to analyze race and specifically the black freedom struggle through a distillation of these two disparate intellectuals' views, climaxing in an actual historical face-off. The chapter on the televised Cambridge debate is hard to put down.
Buccola's method builds an engrossing plot around which you naturally sink into the ideas and themes of both figures. Their lives and words become allegories that illustrate, better than anything else I've read, the ideological and rhetorical impasse we cannot seem to overcome still to this day.
Baldwin won the debate and for good reason. To this day his prophecies continue to cut through the fog with alarming clarity.
"For Baldwin, one's love for the country was revealed by one's willingness to "criticize her perpetually." Buckley's love was a love of devotion, much like a child's love for his parents. Baldwins love was a love of confrontation. "Love is a battle," he insisted, "love is war. Love is growing up."
sagedunning's review against another edition
5.0
Thorough and fascinating, if somewhat overwhelming, recounting of Baldwin and Buckley's ideologies and the factors that shaped them. The majority of the book is a biography of both men and their work up to 1965, providing context for their debate. Reminders of major events in the civil rights struggle also provide context for the men's positions. An excellent read for anyone wanting to level up their understanding of American history and ideology, or anyone who wants a primer on James Baldwin, his early public appearances, and his work up to 1965. I was never made to read Baldwin, even by an undergraduate American Studies curriculum that was better at including Black intellectuals. I'm disappointed about that, because I'm very charmed by him and find his perspective incisive. I enjoyed looking up his television appearances on YouTube (Buccola describes quite a few of them) and I am looking forward to reading his novels and essays directly. The book also describes National Review founder Buckley's obvious ideological influence on the American right, making it easy to draw comparisons to today-- and not just how he shaped racist ideas within the 2023 conservative movement, how his racist ideas live on within the 2023 liberal-to-centrist American mainstream as well.
audiobebop's review against another edition
4.0
Buckley was so annoying but at least he was smarter than most of the conservatives around today. Very interesting analysis of Baldwin and Buckley's works as well as their stances. Buccola does a great job of weaving the historical events that formed and inspired much of Baldwin and Buckley's opinions and works. I cannot even imagine the extensive research that was involved in writing this book but I love the outcome.
egmamaril's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
A powerful and extremely topical book. I recommend the audiobook because, not only is the narrator amazing, but it includes original audio from the Buckley Vs Baldwin debate in Cambridge.
flexmentallo's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
A solid but limited look at one of the most influential debates in American history. Buccola is smart to realize that the debate itself is a limited framework, so he dedicates a large chunk of the book to the lives and intellectual evolution of Buckley and Baldwin. And here is where the book runs into some problem.
William F. Buckley is not a particularly interesting guy.
His ideas never particularly evolved. His writing was never particularly interesting, and his ideological beliefs were inconsistent and blinkered. Buccola, to his credit, recognizes this. But it does make the sections on Buckley a bit repetitive by the end of the book.
Thankfully, the book makes up for it with its analysis of Baldwin and his work, and the way the two men wove the themes that defined their work through the history of the 1960s in particular.
William F. Buckley is not a particularly interesting guy.
His ideas never particularly evolved. His writing was never particularly interesting, and his ideological beliefs were inconsistent and blinkered. Buccola, to his credit, recognizes this. But it does make the sections on Buckley a bit repetitive by the end of the book.
Thankfully, the book makes up for it with its analysis of Baldwin and his work, and the way the two men wove the themes that defined their work through the history of the 1960s in particular.