Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement

Richard Brookhiser wrote his first cover story for National Review at age fourteen, and became the magazine’s youngest senior editor at twenty-three. William F. Buckley Jr. was Brookhiser’s mentor, hero, and admirer; within a year of Brookhiser’s arrival at the magazine, Buckley tapped him as his successor as editor-in-chief. But without warning, the relation ship soured—one day, Brookhiser returned to his desk to find a letter from Buckley unceremoniously informing him “you will no longer be my successor.”

Brookhiser remained friends and colleagues with Buckley despite the breach, and in Right Time, Right Place he tells the story of that friendship with affection and clarity. At the same time, he provides a delightful account of the intellectual and political ferment of the conservative resurgence that Buckley nurtured and led.

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.