Albion thanks author for "Smoking" and lecture
Christopher Buckley gives CRE lecture to first-year students
By HOLLY SETTER
Editor-in-Chief

Christopher Buckley, author of "Thank You For Smoking," gave this year’s first-year common reading experience lecture.

As of press time, Christopher Buckley was scheduled to inform students about politics, business and Hollywood at the annual Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience (CRE) lecture on Sept. 24 in Goodrich Chapel.

The author’s book “Thank You For Smoking” was selected as this year’s focus for the CRE, and every first-year student was sent a copy of the book and asked to read it over the summer.

“Thank You For Smoking,” which was adapted to film in 2006, follows Nick Naylor, a successful tobacco lobbyist, as he is kidnapped by a group of radicals who try to kill him by covering him with nicotine patches.

In a phone interview prior to the lecture, Buckley described the process of turning the novel into a film “not for the faint of heart” and noted that Mel Gibson owned the rights to the screenplay for 10 years before it began production.

According to Buckley, the finished product was worth the wait, however. “It’s generally thrilling to watch Robert Duvall, one of my favorite actors, speak words that I wrote 12 years ago.”

The choice of “Thank You For Smoking” as the CRE book was made by a committee comprised of faculty, students, and staff, according to Shana Plasters, senior director for the First-Year Experience.

“The book is an engaging text that touches on issues of Washington politics, big business influence and societal norms,” Plasters said. “The piece is a satirical work of fiction, and the committee was also interested in exposing our students to this type of writing and the use of satire.”

Vicki Sweitzer, assistant professor of economics, is using the book in her FYE class, Business and Society in the 21st Century.

Sweitzer said the course focuses on four areas of the curriculum: leadership,  civic engagement, ethics and diversity.  She said that her class will be analyzing those areas from both a company and individual perspective.

“The tobacco, alcohol and firearm industries (from the book) present a nice case/discussion of corporate social responsibility and ethics,” said Sweitzer.  “The concepts from the book mesh very well with the topics areas we are covering.”

Both Sweitzer and Plasters commented on the accessibility of the text to the readers. 

“The book just presents these issues in an informative, yet interesting way,” Sweitzer said. “The main character, Nick Naylor, is disturbing yet likeable at the same time, so it’s easy to get sucked into his story.”

Prior to his work as a novelist, Buckley worked as a journalist and speech writer for George H.W. Bush during his vice- presidency. When asked how his work in those fields affected his writing style and take on politics, Buckley said that “it has turned me into a humorist…a sad, cynical man.”

Buckley also discussed his upcoming book “Supreme Courtship” which chronicles the lengths to which one president must go in order to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court when his “arch-nemesis” is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Despite the fact that he submitted the book to his publisher in January, Buckley laughed to see his plot take form in current politics. “(The novel) pits a cosmetically attractive young senator against a glasses-wearing, gun-toting hottie.”

Buckley then joked that he was prepared to retire from satire as there is obviously nothing too bizarre for American politics.

Plasters emphasized the importance of the CRE as a foray into life at Albion for the first-years. “We want students to start asking questions, making comparisons, and looking at a text as a scholar,” Plasters said. “By going through this experience as a cohort, students can learn from and challenge each other in this process.  It also opens our students up to different opinions and creates an environment for civil discourse.”