Morpheus Book

This novel was a clever idea. WFB portrayed two historical tangents from conventional conservatism by having the reader see them through the eyes of devotees who eventually are disillusioned by the shortcomings of these philosophies. One was a member of the John Birch Society and one was a staff member who worked for Ayn Rand and helped her in the promotion of Objectivism. Both characters were very likable and Buckley has them fall in love and grapple with each other's political and philosophical perspectives. It is anti-Communist and pro-Capitalist throughout, but shows how Robert Welch and Ayn Rand both threatened to ruin the gains being made by more mainline right-wingers like Barry Goldwater and Buckley himself. I'm sure the author had fun showing the ugly side of both of these extremists, because both had despised WFB as the embodiment of a conservatism that demanded that faith and reason both operate in unison without abandoning the other. (Which is the fault of each of these weird Uncle members of the conservative family.)

The novel begins with the failed uprising to throw off Soviet influence in Hungary and ends shortly after Goldwater's defeat. The novel was strong and was a great story that kept me captivated until the Goldwater era when the history seems to out-shout the story. If the whole book had kept the pace and interest of the first two-thirds, I would have given it the full five stars.