How Do We Get Out of Here

Half a Century of Laughter and Mayhem at the American Spectator from Bobby Kennedy to Donald J. Trump

By: R. Emmett Tyrell Jr.

Narrated by: Frank Block

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.

©2023 R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

The author’s arrogance

I bought this book because I thought it would contain interesting perspective and insight into the political situation in which the United States and the world finds itself today. What the book turned out to be is a rambling collection of self-aggrandizing stories that offered no insight and weren’t even interesting enough to make it worth your time as an autobiographical piece. It is not read by the author, and the person who does read it never really connects, or at least did not connect with me. And the words he’s reading are the disconnected, indulgent ramblings of a self important, extraordinarily arrogant political hanger-on. I have rarely been as disappointed in a book from a source I much admire as I was in this one. I admire the American Spectator Magazine, and it was they who promoted the book. Even if you agree with the political positions taken by the Spectator, you do not need to waste hours of your life, listening to this arrogant man’s ramblings about himself