| ||||||||||||
Product Details
|
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.”
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.”
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.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Always Entertaining,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism (Paperback)
There's enough wit in this small tome to last a lifetime. If you're familiar with Hitchens, it's as entertaining as it sounds. I would definitely recommend it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 87 of 91 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly enjoyable. Very sharp, and very funny.,
By B Waters - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism (Paperback)
The first thing to understand about this book is that it's not really conducive to long periods of reading. As every fan knows, brevity is not Hitch's strong suit - in fact, a large part of the joy one gets from reading his works comes from his thorough explanations and fascinating side-notes. After becoming familiar with his writing style, it's almost unnerving to try and read this book for long periods of time. It starts to feel terse and manic. It's not because the quotes aren't worthwhile; each one is a classic gem, worthy of its reprinting here. But before long, the overload of short, brilliant quotes feels disjointed. It perfectly captures Mr. Hitchens' wit, but by implication can't include his level of depth or substance.With that in mind, this book works perfectly in short bursts. And its alphabetical indexing perfectly divides it into 26 neat sections. I recommend reading one section a day. It feels like just the right amount. And of course, this makes an incredibly useful desk reference. If you ever need a sharp, intellectual quote to open a research paper or argument, this will become your favorite source. I've already used it twice in this way. It's easy to start on a high note when you can quickly find a quote on almost any topic you can think of, from one of the sharpest writers of the modern era. One of the things that surprised me about this book is the extremely broad use of his quotes, in regards to both subject matter and time. The sections on "god", "Iraq War", and "Smoking" are shorter than you may expect, and there are dozens of topics you wouldn't expect, like "Patterns", "Euphemisms", and "Tennis". And the quotes themselves are evenly spread over his entire career. I expected it to rely primarily on his more widely known post-9/11 works, but this is not the case. Quite a bit of the material comes from interviews and columns from several decades ago. This is a great thing for devoted fans, as so much of it feels completely new. I own all of Hitch's books, and I was happily surprised to see so many quotes I'd never seen before. Martin Amis' charming foreword alone is worth the price of the book, and at less than $10, you can't go wrong. It makes a great reference by itself, and if you're even mildly interested in Christopher Hitchens, you'll be happy to have this! 32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gem after gem after gem.,
By Greg "Saganite" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism (Paperback)
It is the mark of a truly superlative aphorist--which Hitchens, along with being our age's consummate rhetorician, clearly is--that one finds oneself laughing at or being impressed by a quote with which one in no way agrees."Quotable Hitchens" is a master class in how to express strong opinions in ways that cannot be forgotten. While there are topics covered in the book that not only do I not care much about, but know even less about, each quotation gives some special insight into this strange contrarian's brilliant mind, and for me at least, holds up ideas to be examined in different lights. I find it impossible to write about Hitchens without lionizing him, even though I think he can be terribly mistaken about things. It's because he's like an uncle I would have wanted as a teen--able to spit in convention's eye with such deadly accuracy that it wins the admiration of even the spit-upon, and so adept with a turn of phrase that even his most erudite opposition (think Hitchens vs. Blair: Be It Resolved Religion Is a Force for Good in the World (The Munk Debates)) can be rocked back on its heels. This book preserves some of the sharpest lines Hitchens has spoken or written, and taken as a whole, they help explain why Hitchens says he's never so happy as when he's hunched over a book or typewriter. For him, language is the ultimate playground. 24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Keep it up, Hitch!,
By 'amerye' - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism (Paperback)
Approved by the author; chosen & edited by another; this still does the trick of introducing newcomers (are there any intelligent readers out there who haven't read Christoher Hitchens?) to our greatest prose stylist since George Orwell. For the others of us who are, as they say down the road in Hollywood, huge fans,they'll find a stocking stuffer, a little treat, a jeu d'esprit in this new release. Taken in the aggregate, quotes from his many books, numerous articles, & constant interviews -- this is a stunning reminder of the amazing body of work banged out on two fingers on a certain little typewriter. This machine, along with its owner, has been all over the world, commenting on more political situations than would be thought possible. Never at a loss for words, or rather for the words, his prose is elegant, funny, honest. If you like books of quotations as I do, this is a fun one. Hitchens on a range of subjects, rather eccentrically chosen but still covers the map -- though more on Bill Clinton than on Women (unfair, I wanted to hear what he thinks), nothing on Marriage, or Oxford, (C.H. is a famous son of Balliol College) the writing process, or a few more wished-for topics. Never mind, there'll be another one...Hoping that Mr. Hitchens is recovering from his health problems, and resting (at least on his laurels) and can come back to my small town of Claremont in big L.A. to visit our local college. Hearing him speak last year was a most acute pleasure - who would know English could sound so beautiful & just? |
|
|
|
|