Buckley: The Right Word: About the Uses and Abuses of Language, Including Vocabu Lary;: Usage; Style & Speaking; Fiction, Diction & Dictionaries; Revi

by William F. Buckley Jr. and Samuel S. Ed. BUCKLEY, William F. Jr. & VAUGHAN

Book Overview

Buckley's provocative observations on the use and abuse of English, gathered for the first time in a single volume - a "veritable cornucopia of language and logic that belongs in every library"... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679452141
• ISBN13: 9780679452140
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 1.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Buckley: The Right Word

Buckley: The Right Word by or rather selected, assembled and edited by Samuel S. Vaughan drawn from the works of William F. Buckley, Jr. is a book quite unique in its own right.It is composed of letters and excerpts of interviews, reviews, columns, and appreciations. As the title suggests, it is a book about words as seen by Buckley and especially on the right word. Buckley is noted for his provocative and rather expansive vocabulary and this book is no disappointment. Also, grammer is well represented. I found this book to interestingly entertaining with a modicum of dry humor and wit.If you like to be entertained by the right word or phrase, this is the book for you. I especially liked the correspondence.

Bravo Bill, and to your editor too.

No politics (? ) and great penmanship. Even a few tips on wordprocessing, writing fast, foreign words, reading Fowler, and on how to remain civil when virulent letters are in hand. Email hacks: see what a real correspondence can be ; the generous excerpts are funny, enlightening, polite beyond words. Right again, Bill.

When I read Buckley I hear Bach

I read this book earlier this year. Because of this book I have discovered Jorge Luis Borges. Because of this book I recently ordered Kilpatrick's "The Writer's Art". I discovered things about Buckley that I did not know. I knew about the CIA stuff, but I did not know about his MexicAnglo childhood. I now listen to the way he speaks when I see him on TV and wonder what was the effect on me of speaking two other languages before English. I consider English my normal language of communication at this point in my life. One of the most enjoyable excerpts was the letter about his mother. A tear came to my eye.The letters between he and "Kilpo" were amusing.The interview with Borges was illuminating.I often look at a book and evaluate the book in light of whether it excites me enough to read other books on the topic. Many books close a topic for me. This one opened all sorts of doorways.

Poetry in Motion! Highly Recommended!

Do not be misled by the submission from ¨A reader from Wichita, KS, March 9, 1999.¨ It is highly questionable that this ¨reader¨ actually read the book. This person states that ¨The Right Word¨ is a ¨narcissitic essay¨ in which Buckley writes ¨with the premise that he is the world's greatest living writer.¨ The fact is that Buckley had no such premise because this book was not even his idea. The book was the brainchild of his editor of many years, Samuel S. Vaughan. This wonderful book is not an essay at all, as the ¨reader¨ claims, but a compilation of many splendid examples of exquisite English usage. This book contains many incidents in which Buckley awakens dormant words and asks them to come out and play for a while, thereby preserving words ¨that were generated at some point by someone because the need arose¨ (loosely quoted). This book is a true verbal feast of which all linguaphiles are encouraged to partake. Even if you are not a linguaphile and you are staunchly opposed to Buckley's politics, this book still goes highly recommended. If a book concerning masterful usage of language is what you are searching for, why settle for verisimilitude when you can learn from the virtuoso himself, William F. Buckley, Jr.