Well known as a political commentator and the author of sixteen
novels, William F. Buckley Jr. was also a superb chronicler of
travel. Getting About gathers more than one hundred of his articles
about journeys by boat, train, or plane, representing a lifetime of
adventure around the world-from Annapolis to Zurich, from the
Azores to the Virgin Islands. An elegant jet-setter with a flair
for literary journalism, Buckley had few rivals in the art of
travel writing. He took first place in the Magazine Article on
Foreign Travel category in the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism
Competition for eight pieces written while "Concording around the
world" in 1989. A master storyteller, he adeptly wove devices of
fiction together with reportage to craft entertaining pieces full
of exuberance and authority. Being a Bach afficionado, he composed
his sentences for a well-tuned ear. Buckley's talent for arranging
a mise-en-scene stands out in accounts of riding the Orient
Express, skiing at Alta, or vacationing at Barbuda. Though himself
a central character in the story, he never dominates it. He wrote
candidly about travel misadventures, as when his sixty-foot
schooner broke down in the Bahamas and was towed to Miami by a
Coast Guard cutter, or when a malfunctioning compass landed his
boat on a rocky shoal off Rhode Island and the Coast Guard said,
"Sorry, we can't help you." He also took a gimlet eye to the travel
industry and a discriminating palate to airline food, suggesting
that airports sell "a really good box lunch" with celery remoulade,
fresh figs, and a nice Bordeaux. Getting About is pure enjoyment,
but it also broadens the significance of Buckley's oeuvre. Along
with Bill Meehan's illuminating introduction, this delightful
collection helps preserve Buckley's legacy as his centenary, in
2025, approaches.
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