Letters to a Young Contrarian

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Author: Christopher Hitchens
Cover artist: Rick Pracher
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
Identifiers: ISBN-10: 0-465-03033-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-465-03033-0
Open Library edition: OL7593508M (Open Library)
Open Library work: OL2974355W (Open Library)
Pages: 141
Has read?: Yes
Debut?: No

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".