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Letters to a Young Contrarian

Authors:

Christopher Hitchens (author) and Rick Pracher (covers)

Language:

English

Original language:

English

Publisher:

Basic Books

Categories:

Journalism and philosophy

Publisher series:

Art of Mentoring (1/15)

Publication year:

2005

Original publication year:

2001

ISBN:

978-0-465-03033-0

Synopsis:

A collection of imaginary letters to a young contrarian. The beginning of each letter imagines that the reader has sent a reply to the previous one, and the current one is a reply to that, so that reading the book seems to be a conversation. The book deals with how to be a public intellectual with contrary views, and how to deal with all the hardships that come with that obligation.

Review:

It's a very short book, and once started, it's very hard to put it down. Hitchens is a very eloquent writer, besides being knowledgeable and engaged. In the book he deals a little bit with his public confrontations (his criticism of Mother Theresa and Henry Kissinger, for instance), really as examples for pontificating on the life of a contrarian. There's a little part of the book that I liked where he explores various words for a contrarian, such as rebel, revolutionary, and an "angry young man".

Has read?

Yes

Images:

High-res images:

[Back (4.06 MB)] [Spine (335.74 KB)] [Front (3.97 MB)]

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