Christopher Hitchens and His Critics

Christopher Hitchens and His Critics
Author: Simon Cottee
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2008-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814716865

Brings together Hitchens' most incisive reflections on the 'war on terror', the war in Iraq and the state of the contemporary left. It also includes a selection of critical commentaries on his work from his former leftist comrades, a set of exchanges between Hitchens and various left-leaning interlocutors and more.

Why Orwell Matters

Why Orwell Matters
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2008-08-06
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0786725893

"Hitchens presents a George Orwell fit for the twenty-first century." --Boston Globe In this widely acclaimed biographical essay, the masterful polemicist Christopher Hitchens assesses the life, the achievements, and the myth of the great political writer and participant George Orwell. True to his contrarian style, Hitchens is both admiring and aggressive, sympathetic yet critical, taking true measure of his subject as hero and problem. Answering both the detractors and the false claimants, Hitchens tears down the façade of sainthood erected by the hagiographers and rebuts the critics point by point. He examines Orwell and his perspectives on fascism, empire, feminism, and Englishness, as well as his outlook on America, a country and culture toward which he exhibited much ambivalence. Whether thinking about empires or dictators, race or class, nationalism or popular culture, Orwell's moral outlook remains indispensable in a world that has undergone vast changes in the seven decades since his death. Combining the best of Hitchens' polemical punch and intellectual elegance in a tightly woven and subtle argument, this book addresses not only why Orwell matters today, but how he will continue to matter in a future, uncertain world.

God Is Not Great

God Is Not Great
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2008-11-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1551991764

Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

Letters to a Young Contrarian

Letters to a Young Contrarian
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2009-04-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 078673907X

From bestselling author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens, the classic guide to the art of principled dissent and disagreement In Letters to a Young Contrarian, bestselling author and world-class provocateur Christopher Hitchens inspires the radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, and angry young (wo)men of tomorrow. Exploring the entire range of "contrary positions"—from noble dissident to gratuitous nag—Hitchens introduces the next generation to the minds and the misfits who influenced him, invoking such mentors as Emile Zola, Rosa Parks, and George Orwell. As is his trademark, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast to stagnant attitudes across the ideological spectrum. No other writer has matched Hitchens's understanding of the importance of disagreement—to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress, to democracy itself.

Unmasking Mother Teresa’s Critics

Unmasking Mother Teresa’s Critics
Author: Bill Donohue
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2016
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1622823753

Mother Teresa was voted the most admired person of the 20th century, and is loved the world over. Still, she was not without her critics. This book closely examines their accusations. What virtually all of her critics have in common is an unabiding disdain for Catholicism—most were, or are, militant atheists. Their strong embrace of socialism is another conspicuous characteristic. What they abhor about Mother Teresa is her strong faith and her altruism. Mother Teresa's conviction that life begins in the womb, and that abortion is a violent act, does not sit well with her atheist critics. They are also contemptuous of her private, voluntary efforts to tend to the needs of the poor: socialists see such behavior as a deterrent to state programs, the only ones they find acceptable. No one was more harsh in his criticism of Mother Teresa than Christopher Hitchens. He locked horns many times with Bill Donohue, and some of those exchanges are recounted in this volume. Neither man was shy about defending his position, and both let loose on each other. This book, unlike the work of Mother Teresa's critics, offers plenty of evidence; the sources are amply noted. Those who have been curious about the charges made by her detractors will find this book an invaluable resource. It unmasks her critics and puts to rest the cruel myths they promoted about her.

Christopher Hitchens and His Critics

Christopher Hitchens and His Critics
Author: Simon Cottee
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2008-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814716873

Hitchens, author of the "New York Times"-bestselling "God Is Not Great," is one of the most controversial and prolific writers of his generation. This volume brings together Hitchens' most incisive reflections on the war on terror, the war in Iraq, and the state of the contemporary Left.

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens
Author: Larry Alex Taunton
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2016-04-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0718022181

2016 Winner of the Gospel Coalition Book Awards At the time of his death, Christopher Hitchens was the most notorious atheist in the world. And yet, all was not as it seemed. “Nobody is not a divided self, of course,” he once told an interviewer, “but I think it’s rather strong in my case.” Hitchens was a man of many contradictions: a Marxist in youth who longed for acceptance among the social elites; a peacenik who revered the military; a champion of the Left who was nonetheless pro-life, pro-war-on-terror, and after 9/11 something of a neocon; and while he railed against God on stage, he maintained meaningful—though largely hidden from public view—friendships with evangelical Christians like Francis Collins, Douglas Wilson, and the author Larry Alex Taunton. In The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, Taunton offers a very personal perspective of one of our most interesting and most misunderstood public figures. Writing with genuine compassion and without compromise, Taunton traces Hitchens’s spiritual and intellectual development from his decision as a teenager to reject belief in God to his rise to prominence as one of the so-called “Four Horsemen” of the New Atheism. While Hitchens was, in the minds of many Christians, Public Enemy Number One, away from the lights and the cameras a warm friendship flourished between Hitchens and the author; a friendship that culminated in not one, but two lengthy road trips where, after Hitchens’s diagnosis of esophageal cancer, they studied the Bible together. The Faith of Christopher Hitchens gives us a candid glimpse into the inner life of this intriguing, sometimes maddening, and unexpectedly vulnerable man. “If everyone in the United States had the same qualities of loyalty and care and concern for others that Larry Taunton had, we'd be living in a much better society than we do.” ~ Christopher Hitchens

Unhitched

Unhitched
Author: Richard Seymour
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2013-01-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1781684618

Irascible and forthright, Christopher Hitchens stood out as a man determined to do just that. In his younger years, a career-minded socialist, he emerged from the smoke of 9/11 a neoconservative "Marxist," an advocate of America's invasion of Iraq filled with passionate intensity. Throughout his life, he played the role of universal gadfly, whose commitment to the truth transcended the party line as well as received wisdom. But how much of this was imposture? In this highly critical study, Richard Seymour casts a cold eye over the career of the "Hitch" to uncover an intellectual trajectory determined by expediency and a fetish for power. As an orator and writer, Hitchens offered something unique and highly marketable. But for all his professed individualism, he remains a recognizable historical type-the apostate leftist. Unhitched presents a rewarding and entertaining case study, one that is also a cautionary tale for our times.

Arguably

Arguably
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Total Pages: 811
Release: 2011
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1742693792

A collection of the most important and controversial writings from the unapologetically provocative yet universally admired Christopher Hitchens.

And Yet ...

And Yet ...
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-01-07
Genre: American essays
ISBN: 9781782394556

"This collection of essays brings together some of the finest pieces Hitchens published over the last two decades for the first time in one book, addressing with characteristic wit and erudition the subjects he is best known for, including: the case against God, faith and religious observance; the case for intervention in Iraq; indictments of towering political figures like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, and Henry Kissinger; and celebrations of the writers and thinkers whose work meant most to him"--