Appreciation …

… William F. Buckley Jr.’s Travel Writings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

To relieve tedium on long voyages, Buckley gave this recommendation in 1980: “read gluttonously.” Later, in reviewing two volumes, from the Library of America, of travel writings by Henry James, he wrote: “You can close your eyes and open either volume at any page and find yourself reading prose so resplendent it will sweep you off your feet.” The same can be said of Getting About, which deserves a place alongside Buckley’s other travel books (Airborne, Atlantic High, Racing through Paradise, and Windfall), as well as his posthumous anthologies (Athwart History, edited by Linda Bridges and Roger Kimball, and A Torch Kept Lit, edited by James Rosen).