SOURCE: Falcoff, Mark “Muggeridged by Reality.” The American Enterprise 7, no. 5 (September-October 1996): 22-23.

In the following essay, Falcoff praises Muggeridge's insight into the weaknesses of public figures, particularly those on the political left.

For Americans born after 1960, the name Malcolm Muggeridge, if it means anything at all, refers to an eccentric English writer best known for his defense of orthodox Christianity. A handful of graduate students or lettered conservatives may know him as well from two volumes of memoirs published in 1972-3 under the provocative title, Chronicles of Wasted Time. The truth is, there have been several Muggeridges along the way, and in this brief but remarkably complete biography Richard Ingrams gives us a glimpse of each.

Born in 1903 at the height of Edwardian England's glory, Muggeridge died in 1990 at the age of 87, having lived a remarkably full and adventurous life. The son of a Labour councillor and M...