Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere Book

Hitchen's writing takes center stage here, not so much polemic or political activism.

He's an aesthete, dontcha know, and he digs into some of the canonical writers of his lifetime- Oscar Wilde, Gore Vidal, Anthony Powell, Fitzgerald, Wodehouse, on and on.

What makes this book valuable is his wit and the gracefullness that he brings to the page. He's retained quite a bit of the British way of elegance and understatement, as well as the cutting critical eye and the droll sense of humor.

To read these essays to to be treated to insight after insight and be all the richer for it.

The title and the thematic material is secondary- what's more important here is to get the opportunity to let Hitch be Hitch and benefit from his learning his shrewdness and his wit.

The way he writes situations and sketches characters is second to none. I'm telling you.

Literary skills applied to criticism is more rare than you might think it is.

here it's all for the taking....