The malignant condition of the political right in America has already made William F. Buckley Jr., who died in 2008, seem like an antique. The harpsichord-playing Latinist, who cherished Burke and Bach and friendships across ideological lines, was a bit of a throwback even in his prime—championing a conservatism that "stands athwart history, yelling Stop." But as Alvin Felzenberg shows in this fine political biography, A Man and His Presidents (Yale), Buckley was far ahead of his time when it came to promoting his views: cross-pollinating every form of media, leveraging relationships behind the scenes, and blending all this with the allure of lifestyle (his own) and entertainment (that celebrated wit).