Not Again

The New York Times features a long excerpt from Christopher Buckley's new book about his relationship to his famous parents, William F. Buckely and Pat Buckley, who both died recently. It seems that once again, a son reveals family secrets, uses biography to get even, and engages in gossip under the pretense of history. The Times eats it up because the younger Buckley has renounced his parents faith and their conservative principles as well.

This brings back the sad memory of Frank Schaeffer's similar effort, Crazy for God, which mostly concerned his parents, Francis and Edith. (Christopher at least had the decency to wait until both parents had died. Frank did not.) One biblical text comes quickly to mind: Honor your father and your mother. One might add: Even if not doing so might make for some nice book sales and premium excerpts in popular newspapers...