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Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens
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THE NEXT ORWELL
In a time when the political Left needs to be rebuilt from the ground up,
political writer and literary critic Christopher Hitchens has begun the
business in earnest. As a columnist for the Nation, he has been savagely
attacked by fellow leftists for calling for the destruction of the Taliban,
whom he calls Islamic fascists. His merciless criticism of the Clintons and
Mother Theresa raises the hackles of the politically correct crowd. On the
cover of his latest book is a picture of the author in a trenchcoat, smoking
a cigarette with an in your face attitude. The man definitely has unmitigated
gall. A very gifted writer for Vanity Fair and a frequent guest on the MSNBC
television show Hardball with Christopher Matthews, this stern Englishman can
puncture an opponent's arguments with fierce logic. He savagely exposes moral
hypocrisy on the Left and the Right without compunction.
Hitchens, with his unrivaled writing style and classic Oxford demeanor, is
both entertaining and intimidating. He is similar to another iconoclast,
George Orwell. Hitchens is the only writer on the scene that would qualify
to be Orwell's successor. His best work comes when he investigates a subject
with his own eyes. Like Orwell, he is a former socialist with no patience for
the cant of either political wing. Like Orwell, whose sympathies were with
the anarchists during the Spanish Civil War, Hitchens has a libertarian bent.
Interviewed by REASON magazine (Nov. 2001), he admitted a keen interest in
libertarian philosophy. But much like Orwell, Hitchens is reluctant to
embrace a single ideology; he measures the actions of nations and their
leaders by his own solid code of morality and decency.
Letters to a Young Contrarian ostensibly advises a young person on the lonely
journey of the Contrarian but is really an explanation of Hitchens himself.
He is refreshingly not a leftist America basher. He is however like most
libertarians, an unrepentant critic of our political leadership. His last
book, The Trial of Henry Kissenger, is a tar and feather party for the former
Secretary of State under Nixon.
As libertarianism evolves to meet the challenges of our century, it would do
well to embrace unorthodox thinkers like Hitchens. By dispensing with dogma,
one is freed to think creatively. By refusing to sanctify one political
ideology, we are freed to be truly principled. This will be too shocking for
most of the denizens of either political wing and no doubt, Hitchens would be
a rude splash of ice cold water for most libertarians as well. But then again
isn't that what we expect from a Contrarian?
This book is published by Basic Books and retails for $22 hardcover. To get a
flavor of Hitchens writings, go to www.thenation.com and click on Christopher
Hitchens or Minority Report.
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