Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports.

HITCHENS, Christopher.

Item Number: 125180

New York: Hill and Wang, 1988.

First edition of Hitchens’ 1988 collection of essays which includes some of best work. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Gina, greetings Christopher Hitchens.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Recipient’s ownership name. Jacket painting: detail from Caravaggio’s The Sacrifice of Isaac.  Jacket design by Cynthia Krupat.

Prepared for the Worst collects the best of Hitchens' essays. In his introduction, he states his intention clearly. "I have tried," he says, "to write about politics in an allusive manner that draws upon other interests and to approach literature and criticism without ignoring the political dimension." The essays include a brilliant assessment of Noam Chomsky, a spirited defense of Israeli dissident Israel Shank, his criticism of the works of Graham Greene, John le Carre, and Umberto Eco, and his reports from Beirut to Bombay. "A breath of Tom Paine for out time" (Oliver Stone).