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

by Windsor Mann (Editor), Martin Amis (Foreword by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306819582
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	05/10/2011
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,104,908
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

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 bestselling authors. He is a writer and lives in Washington, D.C.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

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“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.” 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.” Word magazine (UK), July 2011
“Slings, arrows, withering one-liners—the immaculate quotes of Christopher Hitchens have been fondly anthologized…The Quotable Hitchens [is] a 300-odd-page chrestomathy of provocation, comedy and-all seeing fury.”

Los Angeles Times, 7/7/11
“It makes for easy reading or perusing. Hitchens devotees will be most rewarded. But others, particularly curious types who haven’t paid Hitchens much attention, can treat the book as a tip sheet.”

Johannesburg Times, 7/18/11
“Look out for The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism…which does what it says on the box.”

 

American History, October 2011
“[Hitchens is] charming, inflammatory, brilliant, and abrasive.”

The Economist (blog) “A display of the highest order of the potency and salability of pithiness…A gleeful array of biting quips, twisty barbs and some disarmingly well-turned phrases.”

 

Editorial Reviews

"The struggle for a free intelligence has always been a struggle between the ironic and the literal mind." In that struggle, Anglo-American journalist Christopher Hitchens (The Missionary Position; God Is Not Great; Hitch-22) has always been in support of the ironic mind. In book after book, this spirited contrarian has aired his views with a fervency and rhetorical brilliance that has sometimes silenced, at least briefly, his numerous detractors. This thoroughly arresting anthology of his writings reminds one of a quotation he credits to his mother: "The only unforgiveable sin is to be boring." This opus would have made his mom proud. A paperback original.

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.”
 

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.”
 

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

From the Publisher