William F. Buckley, Three Years Passed

Good interview by Kathryn Lopez here with one of the compilers of a recent anthology of William F. Buckley’s work, Athwart History: Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations: A William F. Buckley Jr. Omnibus.

Lopez: What does George Will mean when he writes that Bill helped “unmake history”? Do you agree?

Bridges: He was talking about History, the concept invented in the 19th century to mean that the world is controlled by vast impersonal forces, and that there is very little that individuals can do about it. George Will is saying that individuals can “make meaningful choices” — as Bill did in founding National Review. And speaking, as we were a minute ago, of making your argument vivid, here is what Will writes in the Preface: “When he, in effect, rolled up that first copy of National Review and swatted History on its upturned nose, he was saying: You are not all that you have been cracked up to be.” Wish I’d said that!