God and Man at Yale at 75

Twenty-five years after God and Man at Yale landed on the best-seller list, publisher Henry Regnery asked author William F. Buckley Jr. for a fresh introduction to a second edition. Although he had not opened the book since shortly after its publication in 1951 and thought re-reading it an “uninviting” chore, Buckley consented, thinking that the re-issue would allow the sensible reader “to wonder what was the madness that seized so many people of such considerable reputation; and to wonder further that such profound misinterpretations were not more widely disavowed.” Toward those ends, Buckley produced a thirty-two-page analysis of the “quite startling” reaction to his exposé of the Ivy League school’s leftward turn. His thrashing takedown of the critical reaction to the book not only confirmed the original thesis but also illuminated the foolish condemnation of both book and author. Moreover, Buckley indirectly reaffirmed that God and Man at Yale was a touchstone publication for the conservative intellectual movement.    Read Full Article »