Christopher Buckley In Depth, Sunday, Noon - 3 pm ET
Christopher Buckley joins Book TV for a LIVE In Depth interview on Sunday, May 3 (noon - 3 pm ET), on C-SPAN2. Mr. Buckley is the author of fourteen books, including the novels Thank You for Smoking, Boomsday, and Supreme Courtship. He is the recipient of the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence and the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Mr. Buckley is currently the editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. He is the son of William F. Buckley, Jr. and his latest book is a memoir entitled Losing Mum and Pup.
Participate in the discussion by calling in during the program or by e-mailing your questions to booktv@c-span.org.
I had the pleasure of bartending for your parents on a number of occasions in the early 80s (I worked for Glorious Food at the time...which was brilliant training for a future life working for advertising CEOs). And your mother was a hoot to work for. She and Nan Kempner were my favorites!
Can't wait to read your book, but could you share a "son's perspective" on that extraordinary Belle Epoque period that was exemplified by dinners at the Temple of Dendur and at private homes such as yours? We all peeked at our parents parties as children... But what was it like to see such personality-infused events and collective opulence as existed in the Eighties from a son's POV?
Did it seem beautiful to a young man's eyes? Or like wretched excess? And what, if anything, have we lost with the disappearance of that world?
Neilan Tyree
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and NYC (for business)
P.S.: I got your mother's approval for home parties because I found one of her diamonds during a huge dinner at the Saks. She'd lost it during set-up of a dinner she was hosting and the doors were all bolted while a hundred tuxedo clad boys scrambled around to find it. I came up with it... Like a Tahitian diver emerging from the water up with a black pearl! A shining moment from my Cater Waiter days!
Posted by: Neilan Tyree | May 02, 2009 at 05:38 AM
I saw your whole interview on C-Span. It went very well. I'm wondering how your father was so loyal to the Catholic church which itself is so authoritarian. How does that fit with his belief in limited government in the secular world?
Posted by: james winkworth | May 03, 2009 at 10:57 PM