Prepared for the worst: selected essays and minority reports - Hardcover

Hitchens, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701134593 ISBN 13: 9780701134594

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 1989

Synopsis

Hitchens has written a great deal of bracing good sense on politics & literature in the past decades. Much of it has been collected between the covers of this well-packed book. Since these pieces originally appeared in journals as wide-ranging as the TLS, Grand Street, Harper's, Mother Jones, The Nation & Spectator, only the most avid admirer would be likely to have come across them all. In addition to the predictable, eloquent Reagan-bashing, there are thoughtful essays on Paul Scott & his Raj Quartet, the contradictions of George Orwell, the Brideshead phenomenon, that very independent-minded Israeli Professor Israel Shahak, Conor Cruise O'Brien, even something as up-to-date as a perceptive review of Bonfire of the Vanities. Hitchens writes clearly, from a well-stocked mind, & is free of the cant that affects many political journalists. Why the kinds of views that he & his very kindred spirit Alexander Cockburn express so well never receive an airing on TV, where they'd reach a much wider audience, remains a source of shame to a supposedly free medium. In any case, book & magazine readers can feel fortunate that publishers suffer no such self-imposed restraints.-- Publishers Weekly

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a columnist for Slate. He was the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Orwell, Mother Teresa,Henry Kissinger and Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as his international bestseller and National Book Award nominee, god Is Not Great. His memoir, Hitch-22, which was a Sunday Times bestseller, was nominated for the Orwell Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His last book, Mortality, was published in 2012 by Atlantic Books.

From Publishers Weekly

Hitchens has written a great deal of bracing good sense on politics and literature in the past decade or so, and much of it has been collected between the covers of this well-packed book. Since these pieces originally appeared in journals as wide-ranging as the TLS , Grand Street , Harper's , Mother Jones , the Nation and Spectator , only the most avid admirer would be likely to have come across them all. In addition to the predictable, eloquent Reagan-bashing, there are thoughtful essays on Paul Scott and his Raj Quartet , the contradictions of George Orwell, the Brideshead phenomenon, that very independent-minded Israeli Professor Israel Shahak, Conor Cruise O'Brien, even something as up-to-date as a perceptive review of Bonfire of the Vanities. Hitchens writes clearly, from a well-stocked mind, and is free of the cant that affects many political journalists. Why the kinds of views that he and his very kindred spirit Alexander Cockburn express so well never receive an airing on TV, where they would reach a much wider audience, remains a source of shame to a supposedly free medium. In any case, book (and magazine) readers can feel fortunate that publishers suffer no such self-imposed restraints.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0701134593
• ISBN 13: 9780701134594
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368