It's a daunting task to review a book by Christopher Hitchens because his own book reviews were such models of erudition. It's really scary how much this man knew and could reference. It's even scarier when you consider that he was a serious drinker for pretty much all his life.
Nevertheless, I read this book and so I will review it.
It is a collection of essays - each a few pages long - most of them are either about politics (broadly defined) or literature. Hitchens can be infuriating and enjoyable to read, even in the same essay. His store of knowledge and his vocabulary were enormous and he was highly opinionated on just about all topics. These are polemics.
He is, for example, opposed to Christmas and points out that Christians ought to be too, not just because it is commercialized but because it is pagan. The pilgrims in early America forbade any celebration of it. He's generally against religion (this is the author of "God is not Great"). And he finds a lot of politicians deplorable - not always in easily predictable ways.
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