Philip Cross: Buckley showed conservatism needs a moral foundation

Tanenhaus and God at Buckley

The long-awaited biography of William F. Buckley Jr. is hardly worth the wait of thirty years. David Brady, Jr., reviews it, saving our readers the pain of reading themselves.

Philip Cross: Buckley showed conservatism needs a moral foundation

Sam Tanenhaus’s authorized biography of William F. Buckley, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, details in 1,028 pages how the renowned U.S. conservative almost single-handedly revived the American conservative movement after its near-death experience during the New Deal and Second World War. It also provides useful insights into how conservatism evolved into the populism that Donald Trump harnessed to become president and…