Christopher Hitchens: Letters to a young Contrarian

By MARGIE THOMSON

Whether you love him or hate him, there's no denying Hitchens is entertaining, a world-class contrarian of brutal wit and impressive intellect.

This slim little book is part of a series inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, called The Art of Mentoring, and in this one, it is Hitchens' purpose to instruct his would-be followers in the art of dissent.

It's very readable, and full of pithy points such as "If you care about the points of agreement and civility, then you had better be well-equipped with points of argument and combativity, because if you are not then the 'centre' will be occupied and defined without your having helped to decide it, or determine what and where it is."

Basic Books

$64.95