Arguably

November 28, 2011
How does one possibly narrate the essays of Christopher Hitchens while capturing the author’s furious—and perhaps occasionally misguided—intensity and vigor? For this capacious collection of Hitchens’s essays, narrator Simon Prebble wisely avoids that dilemma. Instead, he offers a dry, slightly formal delivery. Covering everything from Charles Dickens and J.G. Ballard to the recent financial crisis and global jihad, Hitchens mingles the literary with the political, using his erudition to hone arguments to a carefully wielded point. Prebble’s controlled narration works to tone down some of Hitchens’s force—the narrator simply poses arguments without bludgeoning the author’s opponents—much to the benefit of this audio production. The sound is turned down, leaving Hitchens’s ideas to come to the fore. A Hachette/Twelve hardcover.

Starred review from July 15, 2011

A new collection of essays from Hitchens (Hitch-22: A Memoir, 2010, etc.), his first since 2004.

Whether on the invasion of Iraq or the merits of Vladimir Nabokov's fiction, master controversialist Hitchens has an informed opinion. Here he gathers a hefty helping of work over the last few years, published in venues such as the Atlantic and Vanity Fair. Sometimes his pieces concern passing matters, though they are seldom ephemeral themselves; more often he writes about what he wishes to write about, topics that require weighty but not dense (and usually not heavy-handed) consideration. On Gore Vidal, for instance, Hitchens gets in a lovely zinger worthy of Vidal himself: "The price of knowing him was exposure to some of his less adorable traits, which included his pachydermatous memory for the least slight or grudge and a very, very minor tendency to bring up the Jewish question in contexts where it didn't quite belong." Hitchens balances old interests with new discoveries; he was one of the first to write at length about Stieg Larsson, for instance, whose death by "causes that are symptoms of modern life" he endorses. He also turns to his long-standing fascination for the totalitarian mind. He characterizes Adolf Hitler as holding opinions that are "trite and bigoted and deferential," while "the prose in Mein Kampf is simply laughable in its pomposity." Hitchens revels in theoretical questions and in stirring up trouble: His pieces on religion seem calculated to offend as many believers as possible, which is of course the point. Still, he is also practical, offering up some fine advice on how to argue points over a Georgetown dinner table or down at the local watering hole—just say, "Yes, but not in the South?" and, he avers, "You will seldom if ever be wrong, and you will make the expert perspire."

Vintage Hitchens. Argumentative and sometimes just barely civil—another worthy collection from this most inquiring of inquirers.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 15, 2011

The more than 100 previously published commentaries and book reviews--1999 to the present--by this notable columnist, critic, and best-selling author (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) are serious, humorous, and, above all, thought-provoking. Topics range from the political situation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Tunisia to literary criticism of the works of John Updike, J.K. Rowling, and Stieg Larsson. The essay "Why Women Aren't Funny" contemplates why some women, who have the whole world of men at their feet, put childbirth higher and wit and intelligence lower on their scale of womanhood's enduring qualities. This leads to an essay on diaper-changing stations in men's restrooms. Recommended for shrewd readers and writers who enjoy keeping up with today's lively intellectual arguments, to which Hitchens has contributed so much. [See Prepub Alert, 3/14/11.]--Joyce Sparrow, Kenneth City, FL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2011
The irrepressible Hitchens' substantial new essay collection (his fifth) gathers 107 pithy, astute, and forceful pieces on everything from America's Founding Fathers to an array of writers, including Dickens, Nabokov, Updike, and Rebecca West, to war, fanaticism, prejudice, and the f-word. Most of these essays appeared in the Atlantic, the Guardian, Newsweek, Slate, and Vanity Fair from 2004 forwarda time frame during which Hitchens hit the best-seller lists with both God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) and Hitch-22 (2010) while battling cancer. A valiant public intellectual with an omnivorous literary sensibility and mettlesome wit, Hitchens argues dynamically and provocatively against every form of totalitarianism in this veritable mountain range of thought, knowledge, story, humor, and passion. Meshing art, history, ethics, and politics, he venomously critiques Washington while rejecting the idea of America being in decline and delivers stunning insights into such diverse subjects as ecocide, Benazir Bhutto, Iraqi Kurdistan, and why the elucidation of feelings matters. Goading, brilliant, funny, and caring, Hitchens is a voice of enlightenment in a wilderness of cant.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)