GMontag's Journal: Book Review: "Getting It Right" by William F. Buckley, Jr.

I find this: Objectivist Sex -- and Politics.(Interview) An interview with WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR.
to be the most insightful commentary on Getting It Right that I have seen so far. If you care to look up his appearance at the DC Barnes & Noble that was shown live on C-SPAN2 you can see his reading of the "interview" in it's entirety.

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Montag Book Review: "Getting It Right" by William F. Buckley, Jr.

If you did not know that there was a conservative "scene" in the 50's and 60's, Buckley brings it right to your face in this novel.

Buckley's style is similar, in a way, to Neil Stephenson's but without the technology. He begins with characters much removed from each other all crossing paths in the most interesting ways. There are points in the book where I screamed at one of the main characters "get a copy of TAP to learn to sweep a phone!", but it would not have gone along with the book to get "into the weeds" on those items. The tech is accurate for the era, even "cutting edge" with Xerox machines, audio tape duplication, home telephone recorders, etc. although they are not the center of the story.

In his "historical novel" style he takes the reader through the beginning and end of the Hungarian Revolution against the Soviet Union, through the rise and fall of the John Birch Society, through the rise and splintering of the Objectivists (along with dragging the reader through the romantic life of Ayn Rand and her lover), and through the beginnings of the Libertarian movement.

Of course, National Review is mentioned throughout, not so much at the beginning but it builds and is one of the last conservative icons left standing at the end of the 300+ page novel.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who seeks a palatable version of US political history during the period. The author does warn that liberties have been taken with event sequencing, etc. It certainly is not a history book, although it is much more honest about being fiction than many "history books" care to be.

The one blatant misplacement of a historical event that I noticed was a mention of an intruder in Queen Elezabeth II's bedroom that I only remember ever happening decades after the time period of the book. I am sure others will find many more items like that in their reading.

QE2 Invaded Twice

[ellem]

Google her with Break In

Re:QE2 Invaded Twice

[GMontag]

Decades after the setting of this book.

I find a breakin referenced here [telegraph.co.uk], 1982.

Do you find something prior to when Ayn Rand took Nathanial Branden as her lover?