Monday, October 17, 2011

Arguably - Christopher Hitchens

The trick with Hitchens is that he wants you to disagree with him, to take on his arguments and offer some ones of your own.  You can feel it in the writing, this need to engage. This collection of essays, the first since he was diagnosed with cancer, focus on the post 9/11 decade, a time when he carved out a complex position that neither conforms to left or right.  He's famously anti-religion, with a scorn that encompasses both Islam and Christianity, and thinks that the US was justified in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. But he also criticizes the Bush administration over their response to Katrina.

In the end it's the writing that matters, and most if it here quite good. You shouldn't agree with everything he says (he probably would respect you more if you didn't) but it's a fun ride.

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