List Books Conducive To Letters to a Young Contrarian
| Original Title: | Letters to a Young Contrarian |
| ISBN: | 0465030335 (ISBN13: 9780465030330) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Bertrand Russell, Noam Chomsky, Henry Kissinger, George Orwell, Thabo Mbeki, Ayn Rand, Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, E.P. Thompson, Susan Sontag, Émile Zola, Diana, Princess of Wales, Adam Michnik, Nicholas Nickleby, Smike, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ronald Ridenhour |
Christopher Hitchens
Paperback | Pages: 141 pages Rating: 4.14 | 9624 Users | 628 Reviews
Description In Favor Of Books Letters to a Young Contrarian
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.
Declare Containing Books Letters to a Young Contrarian
| Title | : | Letters to a Young Contrarian |
| Author | : | Christopher Hitchens |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 141 pages |
| Published | : | April 13th 2005 by Basic Books (first published 2001) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Philosophy. Politics. Writing. Essays. Religion. Atheism. History |
Rating Containing Books Letters to a Young Contrarian
Ratings: 4.14 From 9624 Users | 628 ReviewsCriticize Containing Books Letters to a Young Contrarian
Death hath wrought a pernicious dent in the erudite and intellectual world; Hitchens will not be one to be soon forgotten, nor ever replaced (but emulated, definitely). Let me stop you before you roll your eyes. Yes, I am providing my belated, unasked-for, and pedantic tribute to the late Hitch, but this is as appropriate of a forum as any to do so, right? Indeed, I read this magnificent little collection of letters of advice written to no one in particular (but everyone) in modest and solemnThis book underscores what I like about Christopher Hitchens: he confronts every ideology, pissing off both liberals and conservatives. If I don't always agree with him, I always admire his iconoclasm and his style of disputation.
I liked the concept of this book more than its execution. Hitchens is unable to keep his own obnoxiousness from ruining what could have been a decent book.
Every once in awhile one's brain gets a kick-start and sometimes the resulting vibration opens a stubbornly closed door. Revelations ensue.It happened many years ago when I was a college freshman, under the tutelage of philosophy 101 professor, Gary Boelkins, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, as I began to grasp the concepts of Plato. One minute I was baffled, the next minute a light bulb (or fire, so as not to be anachronistic) went on and the cave was illuminated.Hitchens prompts this same
There are two basic ways to approach this book. First, there's reading it as an inspirational tract on living a life of contrariness and dissent and all the baggage that comes with such a life. Secondly, one could read this as a treatise on several of Christopher Hitchens' favorite topics, ranging from misspent socialist youth to his journalism days to the preview of coming anti-religious attractions phase.In both cases, the book fails. To the first option, I'm not sure anyone will walk away
I've mostly found Hitchens to be a suspect public intellectual. But he was still a welcome presence for his acerbic wit and his tendency to polemic in times that have seen intellectuals become cowardly dunces lost in the minutiae of inoffensiveness.This book is full of beauty and of impassioned pleas for intelligence, justice, and bravery of the most important sort. It is, in short, the kind of book one wishes Hitchens wrote more often. He too often got lost in his scotch-driven ramblings for
I will read this over, and over, and over for the rest of my life....it is that important.Read it two times...still gives me chills.
0 Comments:
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.