The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism -- The Very Best of Christopher Hitchens

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306819589 ISBN 13: 9780306819582

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2011

Over the past few decades, the bestselling author of Hitch-22 has crisscrossed the globe debating religious scholars, Catholic clergy, rabbis, and devout Christians on the existence of God--appearances that have attracted thousands of people on both sides of the issue. He has been invited to talk shows and events to discuss everything from the death of Jerry Falwell to the sainthood of Mother Teresa, from U.S. policy in the Middle East to the dangers of religious fundamentalism and beyond. And he is always armed with pithy discourse that is as intelligent as it is quotable.

The Quotable Hitchens gathers for the first time the eminent journalist, public intellectual, and all-around provocateur Christopher Hitchen's most scathing, inflammatory, hilarious, and clear-cut commentary from the course of his storied career. Drawn from his many TV appearances, debates, lectures, interviews, articles, and books, the quotations are arranged alphabetically by subject--from atheism and alcoholism to George Orwell and Bertrand Russell, from Islamofascism and Iraq to smoking and sex.

About the Author:

Christopher Hitchens is the author of bestselling memoir Hitch-22 and lives in Washington, D.C.

Windsor Mann has been an editor at the Washington Times and a researcher for several best-selling authors. He is a writer and lives in Washington, D.C.

Review:

“A nice book for the bedside table—my copy is already getting dog- eared...The most scathing, inflammatory, hilarious and (fill in the blank) commentaries on life in all its manifestations.” Forbes Magazine, 6/2/11 “[O]ne of those books that you plan to devote five minutes to but end up burning two hours. It’s a perfect summer read—you can pick it up and put it down as you quaff martinis and roll around the beach like Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity.” The Economist, 6/1/11 “[T]his book is a gleeful array of biting quips, twisty barbs and some disarmingly well-turned phrases....the book is amusing, and a poignant reminder of the man’s rare talents.” Buffalo News, 5/29/11“[S]plendiferous compendium of Hitchens.” Washington Times, 5/24/11 “At first glance, the book reminds one of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, but this volume is something more personal, more outre and more funny. Smartly organized by subject, it is a book to be enjoyed both as a long visit with the incomparable social critic and as a quick reference.” 

Vanity Fair, May 2011
“Quotable Hitchens presents a cavalcade of Vanity Fair’s notorious provocateur-in-chief Christopher Hitchens’s finest flaming arrows, mud balls, and political grenades.”

Times Literary Supplement, UK, 3/18/11
“Without troubling to do the research, you could safely say that Hitchens, formerly the TLS’s American correspondent, has a view on everything. Now you can do the research.” Kirkus Reviews, 5/10/11“The most memorable of Hitchens’ work in an alphabetized guide to all things Hitch.” New York Journal of Books, 5/10/11“The book is great fun, whether sampled by dipping in or swallowed whole and digested slowly, as a snake might do...The Quotable Hitchens is and will remain an excellent means by which those of us who have long valued his work can celebrate it at a moment’s notice and those new to his work now have a new source of material for their Facebook Page or for emblazoning on T-shirts.” Hudson Valley News, 5/14/11

Los Angeles Times, 5/22/11“A collection of gem-like insights pared from the public intellectual and author’s many books and other writings.” New Statesman, 5/23/11
“It often seems as if Christopher Hitchens has spent his life writing and speaking with a collection such as this in mind.” PopMatters.com, 6/12/11“Over 300 pages of...verbal gold...Anyone interested in the art of turning a good phrase in the English language will want to give this volume a look.” American Thinker, 6/13/11“It's a stimulant to the mind and a tonic to the spirit. Anthony Weiner should read it...while in rehab.”