What a Wonderful Book Scoundrel

Sarah 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

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