Athwart History: Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations

William F. Buckley Jr.: William F. Buckley Jr. is the author of fifty previous works of fiction and nonfiction. The founder and former editor-in-chief of National Review and former host of Firing Line,” he has been one of the intellectual leaders of the right since the 1950s. His syndicated column, On the Right,” began in 1962 and appears in newspapers around the country. He served as a CIA agent in the early 1950s, helped found the Young Americans for Freedom in 1960, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H.W. Bush in 1991. An avid sailor and harpsichordist, he lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and New York City.Linda Bridges was hired by William F. Buckley Jr. for the editorial department of National Review in 1969, and served as his literary assistant for the last five years of his life.Roger Kimball is co-editor and publisher of The New Criterion and president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is also an art critic for the London Spectator and National Review and a regular columnist for Pajamas Media. Among his other books are Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity and Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education.