Christopher Buckley
Encyclopedia
Christopher Taylor Buckley (born December 24, 1952) is an American
political
satirist
and the author of novel
s including God Is My Broker
, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men
, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady
, Wet work
, Florence of Arabia
, Boomsday
, Supreme Courtship
, and, most recently, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir. He is the son of William F. Buckley Jr. and Patricia Buckley
and inherited Canadian citizenship through his mother.
, Buckley graduated from Jonathan Edwards College
, Yale University
in 1975 as a member of Skull and Bones
like his father. He became managing editor of Esquire Magazine.
In 1981, he moved to Washington, D.C.
, to work as chief speechwriter
for Vice President George H. W. Bush
. This experience led to his novel The White House Mess, a satire on White House
office politics and political memoirs. (The title refers to the White House lunchroom, which is known as the "mess
" because the Navy
operates it.)
Thank You for Smoking is another satire, its protagonist a lobbyist for the tobacco
industry, Nick Naylor. He followed that with more humor about Washington in the form of Little Green Men
, about the government agency investigating UFO
sightings. His No Way To Treat A First Lady
has the president's wife on trial for assassinating her husband and Florence of Arabia
is about a do-gooding State Department bureaucrat in the Middle East
. His one serious novel, Wet work
, is about a billionaire businessman avenging his granddaughter's death from drugs.
Thank You for Smoking was adapted into a movie
written and directed by Jason Reitman
, and starring Aaron Eckhart
. It was released on 17 March 2006.
Buckley also wrote the non-fiction Steaming To Bamboola, about the merchant marine, as well as contributed to an oral history of Milford, Connecticut
, and is an editor at Forbes Magazine. Buckley has written for most national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times
, The Wall Street Journal
, The Washington Post
, Time
, The Atlantic Monthly
, Smithsonian
, US News & World Report, Vanity Fair
, Vogue
, Conde Nast Traveler
and numerous humorous essays in The New Yorker
.
, the conservative magazine founded by his father. This came to an end after Buckley endorsed the 2008 Democratic
Presidential Nominee
Barack Obama
in October 2008. Buckley's endorsement, entitled "Sorry Dad, I'm Voting for Obama", appeared in The Daily Beast
. He chose The Daily Beast to avoid complications with National Review. After many readers and contributors expressed their displeasure, Buckley resigned from National Review. Buckley last wrote a column for The Daily Beast in April 2010.
He is married to Lucy Gregg Buckley with whom he has two children, Caitlin and William (born in 1988 and 1991). He also has a son Jonathan (born 2000), from a relationship with former Random House publicist Irina Woelfle.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...
satirist
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and the author of novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s including God Is My Broker
God is my broker
God Is My Broker is a satirical book written by Christopher Buckley and John Tierney, published in 1998 by Random House which parodies self-help books, such as those of Deepak Chopra, whose works are particularly singled out....
, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men
Little Green Men (novel)
Little Green Men is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 1999. The novel follows a fictional "Inside the Beltway" talk-show host whose career and life is altered forever when he is abducted by aliens.-Plot:...
, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady
No Way to Treat a First Lady
No Way to Treat a First Lady is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 2002. The novel follows the trial of Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, a fictional First Lady accused of murdering her husband, the President of the United States.- Plot :...
, Wet work
Wet work
Wetwork or wet work is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to spilling blood. The expression "wet work", as well as the similar "wet job", "wet affair" or "wet operation", are all calques of the euphemism used by the KGB for such activities, mokroye delo...
, Florence of Arabia
Florence of Arabia
Florence of Arabia is a satirical novel written by Christopher Buckley and first published in 2004 by Random House. The novel follows a fictional State Department employee, Florence Farfaletti, as she attempts to bring equal rights to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of "Matar."-Plot summary:The...
, Boomsday
Boomsday (novel)
Boomsday is a 2007 novel by Christopher Buckley, which is a political satire about the rivalry between squandering Baby Boomers and younger generations of Americans who don't want to pay high taxes for their elders' retirement.-Title:...
, Supreme Courtship
Supreme Courtship
Supreme Courtship is a 2008 novel by Christopher Buckley, which tells the story of a Judge Judy-style TV judge nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.-Plot summary:...
, and, most recently, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir. He is the son of William F. Buckley Jr. and Patricia Buckley
Patricia Buckley
Patricia Aldyen Austin Taylor "Pat" Buckley was a Canadian socialite, noted for her fundraising activities and her height; she stood just under six feet. She was the wife of conservative writer and activist William F. Buckley, Jr...
and inherited Canadian citizenship through his mother.
Life
After a classical education at the Portsmouth Abbey SchoolPortsmouth Abbey School
Portsmouth Abbey School is a private, coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Founded by the Benedictine monks of Portsmouth Abbey in 1926 as Portsmouth Priory School, the school offered a classical education to boys...
, Buckley graduated from Jonathan Edwards College
Jonathan Edwards College
Jonathan Edwards College is a residential college at Yale University. Established in 1932, it is the oldest of Yale's residential colleges. Members of the Yale community refer to it informally as J.E....
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1975 as a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
like his father. He became managing editor of Esquire Magazine.
In 1981, he moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to work as chief speechwriter
Speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are used by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors.-Skills and training:...
for Vice President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
. This experience led to his novel The White House Mess, a satire on White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
office politics and political memoirs. (The title refers to the White House lunchroom, which is known as the "mess
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
" because the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
operates it.)
Thank You for Smoking is another satire, its protagonist a lobbyist for the tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
industry, Nick Naylor. He followed that with more humor about Washington in the form of Little Green Men
Little Green Men (novel)
Little Green Men is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 1999. The novel follows a fictional "Inside the Beltway" talk-show host whose career and life is altered forever when he is abducted by aliens.-Plot:...
, about the government agency investigating UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
sightings. His No Way To Treat A First Lady
No Way to Treat a First Lady
No Way to Treat a First Lady is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 2002. The novel follows the trial of Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, a fictional First Lady accused of murdering her husband, the President of the United States.- Plot :...
has the president's wife on trial for assassinating her husband and Florence of Arabia
Florence of Arabia
Florence of Arabia is a satirical novel written by Christopher Buckley and first published in 2004 by Random House. The novel follows a fictional State Department employee, Florence Farfaletti, as she attempts to bring equal rights to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of "Matar."-Plot summary:The...
is about a do-gooding State Department bureaucrat in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. His one serious novel, Wet work
Wet work
Wetwork or wet work is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to spilling blood. The expression "wet work", as well as the similar "wet job", "wet affair" or "wet operation", are all calques of the euphemism used by the KGB for such activities, mokroye delo...
, is about a billionaire businessman avenging his granddaughter's death from drugs.
Thank You for Smoking was adapted into a movie
Thank You for Smoking
Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley...
written and directed by Jason Reitman
Jason Reitman
Jason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...
, and starring Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...
. It was released on 17 March 2006.
Buckley also wrote the non-fiction Steaming To Bamboola, about the merchant marine, as well as contributed to an oral history of Milford, Connecticut
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in southwestern New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between Bridgeport and New Haven. The population was 52,759 at the 2010 census...
, and is an editor at Forbes Magazine. Buckley has written for most national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, Smithsonian
Smithsonian (magazine)
Smithsonian is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.-History:...
, US News & World Report, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Conde Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler is a US magazine published by Condé Nast. It has its origins in a mailing sent out by the Diners Club club beginning in 1953, listing locations that would take the card. It began taking advertising in 1955. In order to attract more advertisers, it became a full-fledged magazine,...
and numerous humorous essays in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Obama endorsement
For a brief time in summer and fall 2008, Christopher Buckley also wrote the back-page column for National ReviewNational Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, the conservative magazine founded by his father. This came to an end after Buckley endorsed the 2008 Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Presidential Nominee
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in October 2008. Buckley's endorsement, entitled "Sorry Dad, I'm Voting for Obama", appeared in The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
. He chose The Daily Beast to avoid complications with National Review. After many readers and contributors expressed their displeasure, Buckley resigned from National Review. Buckley last wrote a column for The Daily Beast in April 2010.
Family
As an only child, Buckley found his mother easy to talk to, because his father was a practicing Catholic, while he did not believe in an afterlife.He is married to Lucy Gregg Buckley with whom he has two children, Caitlin and William (born in 1988 and 1991). He also has a son Jonathan (born 2000), from a relationship with former Random House publicist Irina Woelfle.
Satirical novels
- The White House Mess (19861986 in literatureThe year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
) - Thank You for Smoking (19941994 in literatureThe year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search*Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat*Greg Bear - Songs of Earth and Power...
) - God Is My BrokerGod is my brokerGod Is My Broker is a satirical book written by Christopher Buckley and John Tierney, published in 1998 by Random House which parodies self-help books, such as those of Deepak Chopra, whose works are particularly singled out....
: A Monk-Tycoon Reveals the 7½ Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth (19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
) (written with John TierneyJohn Tierney (journalist)John Marion Tierney is a journalist and author who has worked for the New York Times since 1990.-Career and background:...
) - Little Green MenLittle Green Men (novel)Little Green Men is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 1999. The novel follows a fictional "Inside the Beltway" talk-show host whose career and life is altered forever when he is abducted by aliens.-Plot:...
(19991999 in literatureThe year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
) - No Way to Treat a First LadyNo Way to Treat a First LadyNo Way to Treat a First Lady is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 2002. The novel follows the trial of Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, a fictional First Lady accused of murdering her husband, the President of the United States.- Plot :...
(20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
) - Florence of ArabiaFlorence of ArabiaFlorence of Arabia is a satirical novel written by Christopher Buckley and first published in 2004 by Random House. The novel follows a fictional State Department employee, Florence Farfaletti, as she attempts to bring equal rights to the fictional Middle Eastern nation of "Matar."-Plot summary:The...
(20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
) - BoomsdayBoomsday (novel)Boomsday is a 2007 novel by Christopher Buckley, which is a political satire about the rivalry between squandering Baby Boomers and younger generations of Americans who don't want to pay high taxes for their elders' retirement.-Title:...
(20072007 in literatureThe year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...
) - Supreme CourtshipSupreme CourtshipSupreme Courtship is a 2008 novel by Christopher Buckley, which tells the story of a Judge Judy-style TV judge nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.-Plot summary:...
(20082008 in literatureThe year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
)
Films based on novels
- Thank You for Smoking (2006) (Directed by Jason ReitmanJason ReitmanJason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...
, Screenplay also by Reitman) - Little Green Men (In development for 2013) (Screenplay by Sean Bates and Gregory Mackenzie)
- Boomsday (In development) Screenwriters Ron Bass and Jen Smolka have adapted the novel into a screenplay. Tom Vaughan will direct the film in early 2011 for GreeneStreet Films and Das Films
Travelogues
- Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter (19831983 in literatureThe year 1983 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.*Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published. This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris...
) - Washington Schlepped Here: Walking in the Nation's Capital (20032003 in literatureThe year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
)
Other
- My Harvard, My Yale (19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
) (contributor, segment "Stoned in New Haven") (university biography) - Campion: A Play in Two Acts (19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
) (written with James Macguire) (play) - Wet workWet workWetwork or wet work is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to spilling blood. The expression "wet work", as well as the similar "wet job", "wet affair" or "wet operation", are all calques of the euphemism used by the KGB for such activities, mokroye delo...
(19911991 in literatureThe year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
) (novel) - Wry Martinis (19971997 in literatureThe year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...
) (collected humor and journalism) - Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (2009) ISBN 0-44-654094-3 (Biographical)
External links
- C-SPAN2 Book TV In-depth interview
- NadaPress.com - The Home of Buckley Prose
- NOW. Arts & Culture. Christopher Buckley PBS interview by David Brancaccio.
- Novelist Buckley, Smoking Out the Self-Righteous
- Christopher Buckley - National Book Festival, Library of Congress
- Christopher Buckley audio interview about Losing Mum and Pup