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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
Pages:: 141
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
Debut?: No
Images:
High-res images:: [Back (4.06 MB)] [Spine (335.74 KB)] [Front (3.97 MB)]