William F. Buckley, Jr. is known as one of the founders of the modern conservative movement in the United States. In 1955 he started National Review, which still today is one of the leading magazines on the American right. In 1966 he became the founder and host of the television show Firing Line, an interview program that lasted until 1999. He was also the author of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, and a syndicated column that appeared in more than 200 newspapers three times a week. But his first book still stands out as a classic. Buckley published God and Man at Yale in 1951, and the questions it asks—about the value of academic freedom, about the politics of university faculty, about the roles and responsibilities of institutions of higher learning—still resonate today. In this course we will discuss the context of the book, its central arguments, and Buckley’s own life.