How Do We Get Out of Here

When R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. was a conservative college student in 1968, he watched as Senator Robert Kennedy gave a rousing campaign speech. When Senator Kennedy asked him, "How do we get out of here?" Tyrrell—the only other person onstage—not only escorted the candidate to his car but boldly pressed a "Reagan for President" button into the legendary Democrat's hand. This early, irreverent political prank marked Tyrrell's entrance into what would become a decades-long engagement at the heart of American politics as founder and publisher of the legendary conservative magazine, the American Spectator. Tyrrell has now written a candid memoir of those tumultuous years, complete with fascinating—and often, uproarious—behind-the-scenes vignettes of the turbulent politics and the most prominent political and literary personalities of the era, including the Spectator's furious political battles with Bill Clinton, the author's close association with Ronald Reagan, his warm relations and competition with William F. Buckley of the National Review, his friendship with a post-presidential Richard Nixon, and the chaotic years of Donald Trump's presidency. Written in Tyrrell's trademark satirical style, How Do We Get Out of Here? is an invaluable and intimate recount of the political and cultural battles that shaped our contemporary politics.