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Letters to a Young Contrarian [First Edition]
by Hitchens, Christopher
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0465030327
- ISBN 13
- 9780465030323
- Seller
-
Rapid River, Michigan, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basic Books - Perseus Books Group , 2001. Copyright 2001 by Christopher Hitchens. Full number-line beginning w/1. Grey and white marbled boards, grey textured spine wrap, silver spine titles, light shelf wear. Pages near fine. Marbled endpapers. Inscription at front endpaper: "To My Young Contrarian. Every person should own this because it matters!" Original pictorial dust wrapper, light shelf wear, crease; unclipped 22.00, protected in new clear sleeve. Scarce near fine first printing in same wrapper. In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of gadflies, mavericks, and independent free thinkers. Who better to speak to the contrarian than Hitchens, who made a career of disagreeing in profound and entertaining ways. In an age of overly polite debate bending over backward to reach a bland consensus, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast. He bemoans the loss of critical thought evident in society. He understands the importance of disagreement - to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress. Epigrammatic, witty, and timeless yet timely, presented here is a concise synopsis to independent thought in the midst of the pressured herd. 141 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.
Synopsis
Letters to a Young Contrarian is Christopher Hitchens' contribution, released in 2001, to the Art of Mentoring series published by Basic Books.
Reviews
On Apr 23 2014, a reader said:
. I find it a pleasure that Christopher Hitchens writes as eloquently in praise (his books on Orwell and Thomas Paine) as he does in damnation (everything else). His book LETTERS TO A YOUNG CONTRARIAN (Basic Books, 2001), with its open allusion to Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet (which passes under Hitchens’s eye with a few but relatively light scorch marks) is a discussion of the role of contrarian or, as the cynics might have it, professional nay-sayer: “A disposition for resistance, however slight, against arbitrary authority or witless mass opinion, or a thrill of recognition when you encounter some well-wrought phrase from a free intelligence….To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist. And there is no decent or charted way of making a living at it. It is something you are, not something you do.” The role has its temptations and dangers, of which Hitchens is gratifyingly aware—the book serves as an assurance, if you are thrown by consistent nay-sayers, that Hitchens writes in skeptic good faith. And it presents, in brief and effectively restrained form, Hitchens’s objections to religious thought. These are questions, if you pretend to faith, that you have to answer, but in form beside which Hitchens’s much-discussed GOD IS NOT GREAT is a slack and over-insistent piece of writing. Being Hitchens, the book is full of questions you should be answering (this is the twenty-first century, if you had not noticed) and plenty of humor; one story is offered “as part of my recommendation that one acts bloody-minded as often as the odds are favorable and even sometimes when they are not; it’s good exercise.” LETTERS is a spirited and enlivening book that delivers the bad news with a maximum of precision and zest.
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Details
- Bookseller
- BiblioStax
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 021624
- Title
- Letters to a Young Contrarian [First Edition]
- Author
- Hitchens, Christopher
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0465030327
- ISBN 13
- 9780465030323
- Publisher
- Basic Books - Perseus Books Group
- Place of Publication
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Date Published
- 2001
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾
Terms of Sale
BiblioStax
Satisfaction is guaranteed. Refund will be negotiated and granted for sufficient reason.
About the Seller
BiblioStax
Biblio member since 2005
Rapid River, Michigan
About BiblioStax
We specialize in modern rarities and other hard to find materials. Items are accurately and fully described. Open communication and satisfaction is our goal.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Marbled boards
- ...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...