Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) Sunday, August 2 2009.

• A witty, wise, biting, and completely individual meditation on what it means to think, live, and be to the contrary. In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, angry young (wo)men, and dissidents. Who better to speak to that person who finds him or herself in a contrarian position than Hitchens, who has made a career of disagreeing in profound and entertaining ways. This book explores the entire range of "contrary positions"-from noble dissident to gratuitous pain in the butt. In an age of overly polite debate bending over backward to reach a happy consensus within an increasingly centrist political dialogue, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast. He bemoans the loss of the skills of dialectical thinking evident in contemporary society. He understands the importance of disagreement-to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress-heck, to democracy itself. Epigrammatic, spunky, witty, in your face, timeless and timely, this book is everything you would expect from a mentoring contrarian.

Shelfari edited the contributors of Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) Tuesday, July 28 2009.

• Added a contributor: Christopher Hitchens: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) Thursday, July 16 2009.

• The ensuing pages represent my tentative acceptance of a challenge that was made to me in the early months of the year 2000.