The current political scene has become so ridiculous that author Christopher Buckley felt compelled to travel back to the 16th century to unleash his invective on clerics and noblemen in his new novel The Relic Master. ‘I have typically written political satire, but this current campaign cycle has convinced me finally that American politics are sufficiently self-satirizing and need no help from me,’ said Buckley. Buckley is the author of 16 previous books including Thank You for Smoking, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady and Florence of Arabia. Buckley also served as managing editor of Esquire, and was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H. W. Bush. Buckley said he arrived upon the idea to write a fictional novel about religious relic selling in the Holy Roman Empire entirely by accident. He was researching an entirely different piece when he stumbled upon a list of bizarre collections that included the more than 19,000 holy relics amassed by a certain Fredrick of Saxony during the Middle Ages. This seemingly bizarre fact piqued Buckley’s curiosity. He boned up on his European history, devouring over two dozen books on the subject. Then he set off for Europe to learn even more about Frederick and his contemporaries in what he describes as a ‘most fascinating period.’ ‘The Renaissance was in bloom,’ said Buckley. ‘There were some interesting people alive. Leonardo. Copernicus. Machiavelli. The world was changing.’ Buckley added that while it may have been a different era, certain human themes like corruption and ignorance remain constant, thereby linking modern politics with his latest historical subject.
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