The Conservative and the Convict (w/ Sarah Weinman)
Added 2022-05-09 17:19:46 +0000 UTCSarah Weinman's new book—Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free—is a gripping true crime story, and perhaps the tale of an ill-fated love triangle. It also is a story about William F. Buckley, Jr., who defied expectations to show mercy to a death-row prisoner, Edgar Smith, after finding out that he supposedly read National Review. In this episode, Weinman joins Matt and Sam to talk about this fascinating, half-forgotten episode from a key period in Buckley's life and career—how Smith and Buckley met; what Buckley did for him; the role played by Sophie Wilkins, Smith's editor at Knopf, in what happened; and the sad ending toward which it all careened.
Sources:
Sarah Weinman, Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free (Ecco Press, February 2022)
Sam Adler-Bell, "The Conservative and the Murderer," New Republic, March 7, 2022
Christopher Buckley, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (Twelve Books, May 2009)
Garry Wills, "Daredevil," Atlantic, July/August 2009
Sophie Wilkins, trans., The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil (1930, 2017)
Alexander Chee, "Mr. and Mrs. B," Apology Magazine, Winter 2014
Comments
Suggestion for an Episode: I am interested in the appeal of Roman Catholicism to right wing intellectuals. It appears that several conservative thinkers, such as J.D. Vance, Soharb Ahmari, J.D. Vance to name just a few, have converted to Catholicism in recent years. Why Catholicism and not just some other conservative Protestant. denomination? I am particularly interested in what Matt has to say about this.
John Kerber
2022-06-10 03:39:12 +0000 UTCBook idea: “Sophie and Pat: A History of Dealing with Bill’s BS”
Mark K
2022-06-06 18:19:00 +0000 UTCThank you! Another great episode, now I've read the book and then re-listened to the episode again besides! Such a rich topic. (One little tiny Bergen County quibble: Mahwah is pronounced like it looks, two short a's.)
Eric Nelsen
2022-05-16 19:59:26 +0000 UTCI picked up a copy of “Scoundrel” as soon as I heard this episode. Sophie Wilkins is the star of that book.
Kyle
2022-05-16 00:54:24 +0000 UTCWe talked about the Alexander Chee essay on a relatively early bonus episode on Buckley and Gore Vidal
Know Your Enemy
2022-05-13 21:22:22 +0000 UTCI figured it out…we both read this piece by Sam: https://newrepublic.com/article/165580/scoundrel-book-review-buckley-edgar-smith-conservative-murderer
JW
2022-05-12 00:39:05 +0000 UTCWas going to post the same thing.
JW
2022-05-11 23:01:29 +0000 UTCHad this been mentioned in a previous episode? I’m having some Mandela effect where I swear to God I’ve seen this episode before.
William Fedullo
2022-05-11 16:06:12 +0000 UTC
