Books: Fly on the Wall See You Later Alligator by William F. Buckley Jr.

by William F. Buckley Jr. Doubleday; 351 pages; $16.95

In Cruising Speed (1971), William F. Buckley Jr. analyzed himself: "I am, for all my passions, implacably, I think almost unfailingly fair; objective, just." Some readers thought that autobiographical judgment was self-parody, but in fact it is largely true. One proof lies in Buckley's latest spy novel, See You Later Alligator, the sixth adventure of Blackford Oakes, secret agent.

In this thriller about Cuba at the time of the 1962 missile crisis, Buckley, the archetypal conservative, presents a Che Guevara who turns out to be a humane and tragic figure; even Fidel Castro, between bouts of egomania, is a | fully...

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