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Christopher Buckley (novelist)

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For other people named Christopher Buckley (disambiguation)|Christopher Buckley, see Christopher Buckley (disambiguation).
Christopher Buckley
Christopher Buckley at the LBJ Presidential Library.
Born (1952-09-28) September 28, 1952 (age 71)
Stamford, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University [1]
Occupation(s)Author, Satirist, Novelist,
Spouse(s)Lucy Gregg Buckley [Divorced], Katherine Close
ChildrenCaitlin Gregg Buckley, William Conor Buckley, Jonathan Buckley
Parent(s)William F. Buckley Jr. and Patricia Buckley

Christopher Taylor Buckley (born December 24, 1952)[2] is an American political satirist and the author of novels 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, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir and, most recently, They Eat Puppies, Don't They?: A Novel. He is the son of William F. Buckley Jr. and Patricia Buckley and inherited Canadian citizenship through his mother.

Life

After a classical education at the Portsmouth Abbey School,[3] Buckley graduated from Yale University in 1975. [4] He was a member of Skull and Bones like his father, living at Jonathan Edwards College.[5]: 173  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.[6] 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.)


The Best Damn Teacher Greenport Has ever seen!


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 many 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.[citation needed]

Obama endorsement

For a brief time in summer and fall 2008, Christopher Buckley also wrote the back-page column for National Review, 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",[7] 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.[8][9] Buckley last wrote a column for The Daily Beast in April 2010.[10]

Family

As an only child, Buckley found his mother easier to talk to than his father, because "She got it," the "it" being religion.[11]

He first married Lucy Gregg Buckley, daughter of Donald Gregg, who served as assistant to Vice President Bush for national security affairs.[12] They have 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.[13][14] Buckley and Gregg divorced in spring 2011.[citation needed]

Bibliography

Satirical novels

Films based on novels

  • Thank You for Smoking (2006) (Directed by Jason Reitman, 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 (1983)
  • Washington Schlepped Here: Walking in the Nation's Capital (2003)

Other

Christopher Buckley talks about Losing Mum and Pup on Bookbits radio.
  • My Harvard, My Yale (1981) (contributor, segment "Stoned in New Haven") (university biography)
  • Campion: A Play in Two Acts (1990) (written with James Macguire) (play)
  • Wet work (1991) (novel)
  • Wry Martinis (1997) (collected humor and journalism)
  • Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (2009) ISBN 0-446-54094-3 (Biographical)

Eulogy to Christopher Hitchens (The New Yorker)

References

  1. ^ "Profile: Christopher Buckley", Forum of Law, Culture, and Society, Fordham University
  2. ^ "Christopher Buckley". Tv.com. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  3. ^ Goldman, Andrew (September 5, 2008). "Mr. Righ". Elle. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  4. ^ "Yale Class Day Speaker: Christopher Buckley", Yale University, Office of Public Affairs and Communications, May 24, 2009
  5. ^ Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-72091-7.
  6. ^ "Christopher Buckley: Tour of Washington". C-SPAN Book TV. May 3, 2009 (first airing). Retrieved July 26, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  8. ^ Chris Matthews, Christopher Buckley (2008-10-14). Hardball (Javascript) (Television). New York City, New York: MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  9. ^ Beach, Patrick (October 14, 2008). "A little scoop on Christopher Buckley". The Reader. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  10. ^ "Christopher Buckley". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  11. ^ "Questions for Christopher Buckley: The Right Stuff," Deborah Solomon, The New York Times Magazine, October 23, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26wwln-q4-t.html
  12. ^ "C. T. Buckley to Marry Lucy S. Gregg". The New York Times. 1984-10-07.
  13. ^ Argetsinger, Amy; Roberts, Roxanne (2008-10-08). "Chris Buckley's Child-Support Saga Continues". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  14. ^ Gregorian, Dareh (2008-10-02). "Not One 'Buck'ley for You!". NY Post. Retrieved 2008-10-02.

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