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A Hitch in Time: Writings from the London Review of Books
Christopher Hitchens was a star writer wherever he wrote, and the same was true of the London Review of Books, to which he contributed sixty pieces over two decades. Anthologised here for the first time, this selection of his finest LRB reviews, diaries and essays (along with a smattering of ferocious letters) finds Hitchens at his very best.Familiar bêtes noires - Kennedy, Nixon, Kissinger, Clinton - rub shoulders with lesser-known P.G. Wodehouse, Princess Margaret and, magisterially, Isaiah Berlin. Here is Hitchens on the (first) Gulf War and the 'Salman Rushdie Acid Test', on being spanked by Mrs Thatcher in the House of Lords and taking his son to the Oscars, on America's homegrown Nazis and 'Acts of Violence in Grosvenor Square' in 1968.Edited by the London Review of Books, with an introduction by James Wolcott, this collection recaptures, ten years after his death, 'a Hitch in time': barnstorming, cauterising, and ultimately uncontainable
340 pages, Paperback
First published November 21, 2021
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526 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Hitchens
162 books7,892 followersChristopher Hitchens was a British-American author, journalist, and literary critic known for his sharp wit, polemical writing, and outspoken views on religion, politics, and culture. He was a prolific essayist and columnist, contributing to publications such as The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, and The Nation.
A staunch critic of totalitarianism and organized religion, Hitchens became one of the most prominent public intellectuals of his time. His book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) became a bestseller and solidified his place as a leading figure in the New Atheism movement. He was equally fearless in political criticism, taking on figures across the ideological spectrum, from Henry Kissinger (The Trial of Henry Kissinger, 2001) to Bill and Hillary Clinton (No One Left to Lie To, 1999).
Originally a socialist and supporter of left-wing causes, Hitchens later distanced himself from the left, particularly after the September 11 attacks, when he became a vocal advocate for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. His ideological shift, combined with his formidable debating skills, made him a controversial yet highly respected figure.
Hitchens was also known for his literary criticism, writing extensively on figures such as George Orwell, Thomas Jefferson, and Karl Marx. His memoir, Hitch-22 (2010), reflected on his personal and intellectual journey.
In 2010, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer but continued to write and speak publicly until his death in 2011. His fearless engagement with ideas, incisive arguments, and commitment to reason remain influential long after his passing.
A staunch critic of totalitarianism and organized religion, Hitchens became one of the most prominent public intellectuals of his time. His book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) became a bestseller and solidified his place as a leading figure in the New Atheism movement. He was equally fearless in political criticism, taking on figures across the ideological spectrum, from Henry Kissinger (The Trial of Henry Kissinger, 2001) to Bill and Hillary Clinton (No One Left to Lie To, 1999).
Originally a socialist and supporter of left-wing causes, Hitchens later distanced himself from the left, particularly after the September 11 attacks, when he became a vocal advocate for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. His ideological shift, combined with his formidable debating skills, made him a controversial yet highly respected figure.
Hitchens was also known for his literary criticism, writing extensively on figures such as George Orwell, Thomas Jefferson, and Karl Marx. His memoir, Hitch-22 (2010), reflected on his personal and intellectual journey.
In 2010, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer but continued to write and speak publicly until his death in 2011. His fearless engagement with ideas, incisive arguments, and commitment to reason remain influential long after his passing.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 19, 2024
I miss Christopher Hitchens. He was a singular talent — his erudition, wit, and arch style made him a joy to read. And no one, simply no one could deliver a polemic as brilliantly as Hitch.
So when I discovered this 2021 collection of previously uncollected essays, I was thrilled. All were taken from The London Review of Books, but the books Hitchens was reviewing allowed him to romp in some of his favorite playgrounds. He here once more pours his well deserved scorn on the Clintons, and gets to take more side shots at Henry Kissinger in a couple different pieces. The British Monarchy takes more hits from Hitch through the lens of the black sheep Princess Margaret. Kennedy and the whole ridiculous Camelot myth take a beating as hard as the one he served up to Clinton. He takes on several famous writers; Tom Wolfe (destroys him) P.G. Wodehouse (loves him) Salman Rushdie (likens him to James Joyce) and Gore Vidal (arch analysis).
Hitchens was also able to take on several true villains. J. Edgar Hoover, Kim Philby, Pinochet, and the fascist loving Diana Mosley all are here skewered by Hitchens’ pen. (I only leave out Kissinger as a villain because here he was a side character rather than a focus.) And he writes about serious, momentous events — Operation Desert Storm and the Oklahoma Bombing.
Taken altogether, this is a meaty, satisfying collection. Only two pieces didn’t work for me. Moderation or Death: On Isaiah Berlin is by far the longest piece in the collection. Hitch gave the most verbiage to a person I find to be his least compelling subject, something I just didn’t get. I was also cold on Say What You Will About Harold: On Harold Wilson, but I feel if I’d been better informed on British politics some fifty plus years ago that I would have better enjoyed that one.
So when I discovered this 2021 collection of previously uncollected essays, I was thrilled. All were taken from The London Review of Books, but the books Hitchens was reviewing allowed him to romp in some of his favorite playgrounds. He here once more pours his well deserved scorn on the Clintons, and gets to take more side shots at Henry Kissinger in a couple different pieces. The British Monarchy takes more hits from Hitch through the lens of the black sheep Princess Margaret. Kennedy and the whole ridiculous Camelot myth take a beating as hard as the one he served up to Clinton. He takes on several famous writers; Tom Wolfe (destroys him) P.G. Wodehouse (loves him) Salman Rushdie (likens him to James Joyce) and Gore Vidal (arch analysis).
Hitchens was also able to take on several true villains. J. Edgar Hoover, Kim Philby, Pinochet, and the fascist loving Diana Mosley all are here skewered by Hitchens’ pen. (I only leave out Kissinger as a villain because here he was a side character rather than a focus.) And he writes about serious, momentous events — Operation Desert Storm and the Oklahoma Bombing.
Taken altogether, this is a meaty, satisfying collection. Only two pieces didn’t work for me. Moderation or Death: On Isaiah Berlin is by far the longest piece in the collection. Hitch gave the most verbiage to a person I find to be his least compelling subject, something I just didn’t get. I was also cold on Say What You Will About Harold: On Harold Wilson, but I feel if I’d been better informed on British politics some fifty plus years ago that I would have better enjoyed that one.
February 3, 2024
I miss Hitchens every day. The world is becoming more and more insane and I feel his voice could've been quite useful to slow down the chaos. I did not agree with him on everything, but I certainly respected him.
December 31, 2021
While the topics will be familiar terrain to those who've read their fair share of Hitchens, A Hitch in Time nevertheless succeeds in pulling previously uncollected essays into a new and enjoyable volume. Despite the subtitle, which informs us that all the essays were previously published in the London Review of Books, A Hitch in Time is not merely a commentary on literature in the way that, for example, Unacknowledged Legislation was. Hitchens uses the opportunity of reviewing then-contemporary book releases to expand upon various topics, including the Oklahoma City bombing, J. Edgar Hoover and the Oscar award circus. (Regarding the latter, it's peculiar to see him write, however briefly, about Groundhog Day and Forrest Gump. They come from a different universe to Hitchens.) We get an indictment of JFK's administration and an account of Hitchens being spanked by then-Opposition leader Margaret Thatcher ("nothing that happened to the country in the next dozen years surprised me in the least" (pg. 83)). Of the twenty essays included, only five are overtly concerned with prominent authors.
There is, as I intimated earlier, a sense of over-familiarity with the topics: other essays discuss favourite Hitchens scratching-posts like the monarchy, Bill Clinton and Salman Rushdie. But they're all fluent and entertaining pieces (well, mostly: the Isaiah Berlin piece – by far the longest – was a chore). The book never feels like a shallow corral of essays which didn't make the cut in previous collections – which should be reassuring to prospective readers worried about their possible gullibility – and it has a sense of unity and continuity. Eighteen of the essays span the Nineties, bookended by one from 1983 and one from 2002, and if Hitchens in these pages is not yet the popular, battle-ready public intellectual he became in the post-9/11 decade, he is nevertheless a compelling presence. While I can't help but feel Hitchens would dislike the trite pun in the title, A Hitch in Time possesses enough quality writing to overcome any cynicism I had about its publication.
There is, as I intimated earlier, a sense of over-familiarity with the topics: other essays discuss favourite Hitchens scratching-posts like the monarchy, Bill Clinton and Salman Rushdie. But they're all fluent and entertaining pieces (well, mostly: the Isaiah Berlin piece – by far the longest – was a chore). The book never feels like a shallow corral of essays which didn't make the cut in previous collections – which should be reassuring to prospective readers worried about their possible gullibility – and it has a sense of unity and continuity. Eighteen of the essays span the Nineties, bookended by one from 1983 and one from 2002, and if Hitchens in these pages is not yet the popular, battle-ready public intellectual he became in the post-9/11 decade, he is nevertheless a compelling presence. While I can't help but feel Hitchens would dislike the trite pun in the title, A Hitch in Time possesses enough quality writing to overcome any cynicism I had about its publication.
February 10, 2022
Besides the (longest) essay on Isaiah Berlin, which dragged, this is a really good collection. It hasn’t just been released to cynically make money as it doesn’t cover all the territory in all of his other books. His essays on Kennedy and Clinton remain illuminating, as do his withering replies to correspondences.
November 25, 2022
Excellent, but you wouldn't expect anything less of Hitchens.
July 22, 2024
Hitchens's inimitable prose deserves the five brightest stars in existence. Could it be any other way?
But there's one caveat...
Hitch was an intellectual omnivore of the highest order, writing on a dizzying number of topics. No one (no mortal, at least) can expect to have enough background knowledge to approach this anthology head-on. If you decide to read it, be sure to have immediate access to the internet.
There's a Hitch-shaped hole in the hearts of all who have read his work.
But there's one caveat...
Hitch was an intellectual omnivore of the highest order, writing on a dizzying number of topics. No one (no mortal, at least) can expect to have enough background knowledge to approach this anthology head-on. If you decide to read it, be sure to have immediate access to the internet.
There's a Hitch-shaped hole in the hearts of all who have read his work.
May 11, 2025
Apparently I started this book in February, last year. I remember my intention was to read an essay or two between other books or at leisure, so as to parse out these echoes of a pre-9/11 Hitchens. Whatever happened, that didn’t. I read in a short burst and then the occasional hiccup, then months and months later I picked it up if only to get it off my goodreads “currently reading” section, swallowing up the last 150 pages as best I could.
I am sure there are a lot of folks that consider Hitchens a big influence, and I guess I’m one of them, in a way. Growing up in a rural, conservative, Christian space, Hitchens’ acerbic distaste for all things religious delighted me. I would watch clips of his debates and his appearances on C-SPAN, and model parts of my presentation style on him. Of course, this was an immature mistake. There is a fine line between being mean to someone engaging in demagoguery and manipulation at a mass level, and then simply being a high school twerp bullying the religious.
In years since, I’ll revisit some of these clips (graciously collected on Youtube as “hitchslaps”—could you call it a portmanteau? Certainly it carries its sexist baggage), and they’re often worth a laugh. Sometimes, though, I wonder what the point of it all is. Hitchens is very funny and intelligent and well-spoken. I wonder who his ‘hitchslaps’ are convincing. I wonder what it looks like to be merciless to ideologues and identitarians in positions of power, but to be sanguine towards people being corralled by them.
I must say, lately getting e-mails at work encouraging prayer and protection against “anti-Christian bias,” I wish Hitchens were around to do some bullying to those that deserve it.
These texts have Hitchens writing pre-9/11, before his stark turn to warmongering. Unlike my 13-year-old self, I now live in Washington D.C.—quite literally steps from Hitchens’ former home—and I wonder if I woke up one day and saw smoke rising from the Pentagon and turned on the news to see towers collapsing in on themselves, instead of seeing these things on the raised corner television of my classroom in rural Illinois, I’d have had a different trajectory. I doubt it, but who knows?
Anyway, the book is a good collection of Hitchens’ writing for the London Review of Books. Some of them are delightful, some are terribly long (the piece on Isaiah Berlin is something like 40-pages long, and I confess I got bored of it and skimmed the second half). There is the odd letter responding to Hitchens and sometimes responding to the responder. One, written by Francis Wheen, is a real treat: “would [Roger Scruton] care to apologize for this libel—and, in the future, to consign his malodorous ruminations to their proper place in his Whitshire cesspit?” (pg274, emphasis mine.)
What a treat of regionalism and vocabulary!
I’d probably only recommend this to folks who love Hitchens’ writing, and won’t be too bummed out by the dark period between the end of this book and his return to sanity. The return (if my memory is right) which, unfortunately, coincided with his terminal cancer diagnosis. That diagnosis facilitated Hitchens’ best pieces of writing, for Vanity Fair titled Mortality.
I am sure there are a lot of folks that consider Hitchens a big influence, and I guess I’m one of them, in a way. Growing up in a rural, conservative, Christian space, Hitchens’ acerbic distaste for all things religious delighted me. I would watch clips of his debates and his appearances on C-SPAN, and model parts of my presentation style on him. Of course, this was an immature mistake. There is a fine line between being mean to someone engaging in demagoguery and manipulation at a mass level, and then simply being a high school twerp bullying the religious.
In years since, I’ll revisit some of these clips (graciously collected on Youtube as “hitchslaps”—could you call it a portmanteau? Certainly it carries its sexist baggage), and they’re often worth a laugh. Sometimes, though, I wonder what the point of it all is. Hitchens is very funny and intelligent and well-spoken. I wonder who his ‘hitchslaps’ are convincing. I wonder what it looks like to be merciless to ideologues and identitarians in positions of power, but to be sanguine towards people being corralled by them.
I must say, lately getting e-mails at work encouraging prayer and protection against “anti-Christian bias,” I wish Hitchens were around to do some bullying to those that deserve it.
These texts have Hitchens writing pre-9/11, before his stark turn to warmongering. Unlike my 13-year-old self, I now live in Washington D.C.—quite literally steps from Hitchens’ former home—and I wonder if I woke up one day and saw smoke rising from the Pentagon and turned on the news to see towers collapsing in on themselves, instead of seeing these things on the raised corner television of my classroom in rural Illinois, I’d have had a different trajectory. I doubt it, but who knows?
Anyway, the book is a good collection of Hitchens’ writing for the London Review of Books. Some of them are delightful, some are terribly long (the piece on Isaiah Berlin is something like 40-pages long, and I confess I got bored of it and skimmed the second half). There is the odd letter responding to Hitchens and sometimes responding to the responder. One, written by Francis Wheen, is a real treat: “would [Roger Scruton] care to apologize for this libel—and, in the future, to consign his malodorous ruminations to their proper place in his Whitshire cesspit?” (pg274, emphasis mine.)
What a treat of regionalism and vocabulary!
I’d probably only recommend this to folks who love Hitchens’ writing, and won’t be too bummed out by the dark period between the end of this book and his return to sanity. The return (if my memory is right) which, unfortunately, coincided with his terminal cancer diagnosis. That diagnosis facilitated Hitchens’ best pieces of writing, for Vanity Fair titled Mortality.
June 12, 2024
I found these essays by Hitchens more biting and maybe even vindictive in parts vs. some of his others works containing more mirth. Not sure if that is because this is a collection mostly from the 1980s and 1990s (all published in the London Review of Books), so Hitchens had more things to be critical of during that time, but either way still worth the read as he holds nothing back.
Writing on Rushdie in 1994, so some foretelling here - "Yasser Arafat, for example, has given an interview - to an Irish paper - which defends Rushdie in ringing tones. Clearly, this is not unrelated to his own confrontation with the grim Hamas forces and with their Iranian paymasters."
On publishing Rushdie - "After tedious and cynical delay had overtaken the publication of Dubliners, Joyce wrote to his publisher in 1906: 'I seriously believe that you will retard the course of civilisation in Ireland by preventing the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished looking-glass.'"
on the Oklahoma bombing - "this kind of American populism has always been tainted by its kinship with racism and superstition, and by its servility to the very power it ostensibly rails against."
On the Cuban Missile Crisis: "This needless war of nerves was to assist Brezhnev and his allies in toppling Khrushchev. An uncounted cost of the Cuban adventure is that it cost the pre-Gorbachev reformists a generation, which Eastern Europeans had to live through - and which the luckless Cubans still do."
And of course Hitchens always educates us by sending us to the dictionary:
- exegetical: careful analysis of biblical passages
- meliorism: belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment
Writing on Rushdie in 1994, so some foretelling here - "Yasser Arafat, for example, has given an interview - to an Irish paper - which defends Rushdie in ringing tones. Clearly, this is not unrelated to his own confrontation with the grim Hamas forces and with their Iranian paymasters."
On publishing Rushdie - "After tedious and cynical delay had overtaken the publication of Dubliners, Joyce wrote to his publisher in 1906: 'I seriously believe that you will retard the course of civilisation in Ireland by preventing the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished looking-glass.'"
on the Oklahoma bombing - "this kind of American populism has always been tainted by its kinship with racism and superstition, and by its servility to the very power it ostensibly rails against."
On the Cuban Missile Crisis: "This needless war of nerves was to assist Brezhnev and his allies in toppling Khrushchev. An uncounted cost of the Cuban adventure is that it cost the pre-Gorbachev reformists a generation, which Eastern Europeans had to live through - and which the luckless Cubans still do."
And of course Hitchens always educates us by sending us to the dictionary:
- exegetical: careful analysis of biblical passages
- meliorism: belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment
March 11, 2023
This is lesser Hitchins.
It is a collection of Hitchens' articles in the London Review of Books. The introduction points out that none of these pieces have been previously collected. That is a positive for those of us who have read all of Hitchen's collections. On the other hand, Hitchens published six or seven big collections of essays and articles. You have to wonder whether much good stuff is left uncollected. The answer seems to be, no.
Many of these pieces feel rushed off; an Oscar diary that never really gets to the Oscars or a Gore Vidal piece that is a chance to tell old stories and settle scores. Some of them are hard core English politics or old English radical fights. A piece on former Prime Minister Harold Wilson goes deeply into the minutia of 1960s English political intrigue. It was beyond this American's ability to follow.
The best Hitchins essays have a structure and an argument, along with the wit, rapier and allusions. These seem to be quick drafts that haven't been polished.
Hitchins being Hitchens, he does get off some good lines, brutal insults and interesting ideas. In his review of an insignificant book about P. G. Wodehouse he drops in a fascinating discussion of the possible influence of Oscar Wilde on Wodehouse, despite the lack of evidence of such a link. He also notes, "Both died in exile, having been meanly treated by a culture that prides itself above all on having a broad and keen sense of humor". That is a stop-and-consider sentence.
This is for completist. I would suggest the "Arguably" collection to start.
It is a collection of Hitchens' articles in the London Review of Books. The introduction points out that none of these pieces have been previously collected. That is a positive for those of us who have read all of Hitchen's collections. On the other hand, Hitchens published six or seven big collections of essays and articles. You have to wonder whether much good stuff is left uncollected. The answer seems to be, no.
Many of these pieces feel rushed off; an Oscar diary that never really gets to the Oscars or a Gore Vidal piece that is a chance to tell old stories and settle scores. Some of them are hard core English politics or old English radical fights. A piece on former Prime Minister Harold Wilson goes deeply into the minutia of 1960s English political intrigue. It was beyond this American's ability to follow.
The best Hitchins essays have a structure and an argument, along with the wit, rapier and allusions. These seem to be quick drafts that haven't been polished.
Hitchins being Hitchens, he does get off some good lines, brutal insults and interesting ideas. In his review of an insignificant book about P. G. Wodehouse he drops in a fascinating discussion of the possible influence of Oscar Wilde on Wodehouse, despite the lack of evidence of such a link. He also notes, "Both died in exile, having been meanly treated by a culture that prides itself above all on having a broad and keen sense of humor". That is a stop-and-consider sentence.
This is for completist. I would suggest the "Arguably" collection to start.
Read
January 6, 2023A Hitch in Time is a collection of 20 articles and 2 letters in the London Review of Books. It's a nice mix of essays, all published before 2002. It's lighter on lit chat than most of his other collections and concerns itself mainly with late 20th-century American and English politics.
If you're new to Hitchens and want him at his best then you should probably read Arguably or Hitch 22, his memoir. It covers a lot of the same ground and often with more context. If you've already finished those and want more, god help you, then this is as nice a collection as any to continue.
The subjects covered are:
- Tom Wolfe
- Operation Desert Storm
- P.G. Wodehouse
- J. Edgar Hoover
- Harold Wilson
- Salman Rushdie's fatwa
- His spanking by Margaret Thatcher
- UK police espionage
- Kim Philby
- The Oscars
- Oklahoma Bombing
- Review of Gore Vidal's memoir: Palimpsest
- Bill Clinton
- Princess Margaret
- Kennedy and Nixon
- Followed by an amusing angry letter by Arthur Schlesinger Jr
- Grosvenor Square protests
- Minor royalty: Almanach de Gotha
- Isaiah Berlin
- Diana Mosley
- Pinochet and Britain (More about Allende than anything)
If you're new to Hitchens and want him at his best then you should probably read Arguably or Hitch 22, his memoir. It covers a lot of the same ground and often with more context. If you've already finished those and want more, god help you, then this is as nice a collection as any to continue.
The subjects covered are:
- Tom Wolfe
- Operation Desert Storm
- P.G. Wodehouse
- J. Edgar Hoover
- Harold Wilson
- Salman Rushdie's fatwa
- His spanking by Margaret Thatcher
- UK police espionage
- Kim Philby
- The Oscars
- Oklahoma Bombing
- Review of Gore Vidal's memoir: Palimpsest
- Bill Clinton
- Princess Margaret
- Kennedy and Nixon
- Followed by an amusing angry letter by Arthur Schlesinger Jr
- Grosvenor Square protests
- Minor royalty: Almanach de Gotha
- Isaiah Berlin
- Diana Mosley
- Pinochet and Britain (More about Allende than anything)
August 25, 2023
The book comprises 20 book reviews that Christopher Hitchens wrote for the said journal, mostly in the 1990s but a few earlier. All of the books profiled are non-fiction, most about significant political or academic figures. Each of the reviews is comprehensive, far beyond reviewing the book in question as written but drawing on his extensive knowledge of the subjects of the books and the events discussed within as well as episodes and angles not included that he opined should have been. One, of the late political academic, Isaiah Berlin was 45 pages long, raising the question of whether a review is intended to generate interest in reading a book or provide such a comprehensive summary the reader may conclude doing so to be unnecessary. However, if one did read one of the books reviewed, the review would provide a useful companion read.
June 1, 2024
It was impossible not to know Christopher Hitchens was a great noisemaker, I heard about him all the time, but I never read his stuff. Then he died, but now he's back.
These essays are intriguing, full of fireworks, and replete with erudition. Hitchens seemed to most enjoy taking down other writers and public figures--Bill Clinton, Isaiah Berlin, Arthur Schlesinger--but he made great arguments. He was a devilish balloon-popper. This can get tedious, but I found that if you read the essays now and then, not straight through, the journey is worth the toll.
These essays are intriguing, full of fireworks, and replete with erudition. Hitchens seemed to most enjoy taking down other writers and public figures--Bill Clinton, Isaiah Berlin, Arthur Schlesinger--but he made great arguments. He was a devilish balloon-popper. This can get tedious, but I found that if you read the essays now and then, not straight through, the journey is worth the toll.
February 5, 2024
Some great takedowns of well-deserving targets like the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Isaiah Berlin etc. This is all pre-9/11 and before Hitchens decided he's had it with the ceiling a left writer is faced with and chose the path of the former-leftie-intellectual-mugged-by-reality where the sky is the limit when it comes to fame and money and he spent most of his time on the frivolous (fighting creationists) and the vile (supporting U.S. wars of aggression).
April 8, 2025
In a manner uniquely his own, Hitchens critiques political ideologies, examines historical events, and reviews literary works, blending rigorous analysis with personal insight. His essays touch upon totalitarianism, human rights, and the complexities of power. As always, he challenges prevailing dogmatic narratives with his rapier intellect and wit. Always worth reading no matter your ism of choice; Hitchens is an equal opportunity slayer of tautologies.
August 10, 2025
Christopher Hitchens was inimitable... This is best on paper and with google handy to be reminded of some of the people referrer to constantly.
Always astute, often funny, and cynical, he sae through a lot of fluff.. I don't always agree but his irreverence is wonderful. I could almost forget if not forgive his abandoning Hong Kong...
Always astute, often funny, and cynical, he sae through a lot of fluff.. I don't always agree but his irreverence is wonderful. I could almost forget if not forgive his abandoning Hong Kong...
November 27, 2022
I admired Hitch's writing when he wrote on religion. However I found these essays pretentious, full of name dropping - and did he admire anyone he met? Most are described with (superfluous) put-down adjectives.
January 22, 2024
A little blast from the past in this collection of previously uncollected writings by Hitchens who is always entertaining, but the arguments and critiques felt more like a distant echo of a previous time, in light of the current world we live in without Hitchens' contrariness.
August 13, 2022
Wonderful. Of course.
January 19, 2024
2.5. This collection mostly feels unnecessary.
January 22, 2024
Dated articles. Audiobook narrator too demonstrative.
January 25, 2024
Hitch expects quite a bit from his readers. If you're willing to do the homework, there are some treasures in this collection.
March 4, 2024
Classic wit and prose that one expects from Hitchens. This collection is both intriguing and enlightening with the various subjects covered.
March 29, 2024
The rating reflects my stupidity and lack of memory, not his writing, which is always superb.
February 21, 2025
Bought initially for the fabulous essay on Kim Philby, though the rest was thoroughly satisfying as well.
September 7, 2024
Thank you to Atlantic Books and NetGalley, for providing me with an early copy for review.
Full review will follow shortly.
Full review will follow shortly.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews