Getting about - by Bill Meehan (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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 over a 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 jetsetter with a flair for literary journalism, Buckley had few rivals in the art of travel writing. A master storyteller, he adeptly wove devices of fiction together with reportage to craft entertaining pieces full of exuberance and authority. Buckley's talent for arranging a mise-en-scáene 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 60-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 râemoulade, fresh figs, and a nice Bordeaux."--

Book Synopsis

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-scène 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 rémoulade, 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.

Review Quotes

"Over the course of four decades, I flew, cruised, sailed, slid, chuffed, and sped with Bill Buckley toward various destinations. All of those trips were worth remembering, and I have tried to do so in the normal human way, unspooling the memory file on Saturday nights in classic black-and-white format. Not Wm. F. Buckley Jr. He captured the scenes of his life on the road contemporaneously, and in vivid color, and he remembers them all here in Getting About, Bill Meehan's glistening new collection of travel writing from the man who invented the so-called working, so-called vacation. Welcome aboard! You're in for a great ride. Oh, and bring a decent bottle of Alsatian white, chilled, if you would.

--Neal B. Freeman, journalist and entrepreneur

"He was a man of all longitudes and latitudes, all heights and depths, and all modes of transit. One recalls that famous photo of a young William F. Buckley Jr. navigating Manhattan's traffic by scooter, and how it captures his cheerful, locomotive essence--but not nearly as well as Bill Meehan does in this extraordinary, marvelously crafted collection. The more you explore the great accomplishment that is Getting About, the more you come to realize it's nothing less than a de facto biography of an exceptional American, a brave sojourner, an unchained spirit."

--Jack Fowler, former publisher of National Review

"What a joy it is to travel along with Bill Buckley on his many and various journeys! Those who love high adventure and imaginative prose owe Bill Meehan a debt of gratitude for collecting the best of Buckley's writings on his lifelong passion, travel, especially via boat. Style, experience, and leisure combine in these writings to offer WFB's unique conservative vision. In Getting About, Buckley's travel writings are here raised from the deep, just in time to offer a new generation a window into the mind and heart of one of America's most buoyant conservatives."

--Annette Kirk, president emerita of the Russell Kirk Center

"Bill Meehan has performed an extraordinary and important service with this fine collection of William F. Buckley Jr.'s writings. Here, we witness Buckley's gift for storytelling: his humor, intelligence, wit, and passion for life itself. The pieces in the collection illuminate the importance of imagination, fearlessness, and open-mindedness. Readers will be amused and inspired by Buckley's adventures, his special and singular way of being an American and a cosmopolitan, and more than anything, the courage to be human."

--Emina Melonic, adjunct fellow at the Center for American Greatness

"It would not be an exaggeration (however hyperbolic!) to state that William F. Buckley traveled the world. And, he did so with his world-class English vocabulary, as long and as deep as his travels were plentiful and wide. Bill Meehan has expertly brought together the very best--which is saying a lot--of Buckley's insights, full of wit and wisdom."

--Bradley J. Birzer, author of Russell Kirk: American Conservative, and professor of history at Hillsdale College