Shakespeare Attacks Bigotry

Shakespeare Attacks Bigotry

Author: Elaine L. Robinson

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2009-06-08

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0786453648

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The author argues that Renaissance humanism created a system of bigotry and eroded the practice of Christianity, and that Shakespeare attempted to expose and condemn that shift. The book examines six of his plays--Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth--and explores how they satirized humanism's grounding in Aristotle's philosophy of slavery and supremacy. Shakespeare used characters like Hamlet and Aaron the Moor to attack that bigotry, and his stance against racism and humanism revealed his Catholic faith.


Book Synopsis Shakespeare Attacks Bigotry by : Elaine L. Robinson

Download or read book Shakespeare Attacks Bigotry written by Elaine L. Robinson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author argues that Renaissance humanism created a system of bigotry and eroded the practice of Christianity, and that Shakespeare attempted to expose and condemn that shift. The book examines six of his plays--Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth--and explores how they satirized humanism's grounding in Aristotle's philosophy of slavery and supremacy. Shakespeare used characters like Hamlet and Aaron the Moor to attack that bigotry, and his stance against racism and humanism revealed his Catholic faith.


William Shakespeare's Macbeth

William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Author: Harold Bloom

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 160413884X

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A collection of literary criticism focusing on Shakespeare's play Macbeth.


Book Synopsis William Shakespeare's Macbeth by : Harold Bloom

Download or read book William Shakespeare's Macbeth written by Harold Bloom and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of literary criticism focusing on Shakespeare's play Macbeth.


William Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice

Author: Sterling Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1438134355

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William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is a richly complicated and, to some, a deeply;disturbing work.


Book Synopsis William Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice by : Sterling Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom

Download or read book William Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice written by Sterling Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is a richly complicated and, to some, a deeply;disturbing work.


Shakespeare on Prejudice

Shakespeare on Prejudice

Author: B. J. Sokol

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-02-10

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 1350168408

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How are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays? In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed. Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.


Book Synopsis Shakespeare on Prejudice by : B. J. Sokol

Download or read book Shakespeare on Prejudice written by B. J. Sokol and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-10 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays? In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed. Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.


Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama

Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama

Author: Matthieu Chapman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1317195515

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This is the first book to deploy the methods and ensemble of questions from Afro-pessimism to engage and interrogate the methods of Early Modern English studies. Using contemporary Afro-pessimist theories to provide a foundation for structural analyses of race in the Early Modern Period, it engages the arguments for race as a fluid construction of human identity by addressing how race in Early Modern England functioned not only as a marker of human identity, but also as an a priori constituent of human subjectivity. Chapman argues that Blackness is the marker of social death that allows for constructions of human identity to become transmutable based on the impossibility of recognition and incorporation for Blackness into humanity. Using dramatic texts such as Othello, Titus Andronicus, and other Early Modern English plays both popular and lesser known, the book shifts the binary away from the currently accepted standard of white/non-white that defines "otherness" in the period and examines race in Early Modern England from the prospective of a non-black/black antagonism. The volume corrects the Afro-pessimist assumption that the Triangle Slave Trade caused a rupture between Blackness and humanity. By locating notions of Black inhumanity in England prior to chattel slavery, the book positions the Triangle Trade as a result of, rather than the cause of, Black inhumanity. It also challenges the common scholarly assumption that all varying types of human identity in Early Modern England were equally fluid by arguing that Blackness functioned as an immutable constant. Through the use of structural analysis, this volume works to simplify and demystify notions of race in Renaissance England by arguing that race is not only a marker of human identity, but a structural antagonism between those engaged in human civil society opposed to those who are socially dead. It will be an essential volume for those with interest in Renaissance Literature and Culture, Shakespeare, Contemporary Performance Theory, Black Studies, and Ethnic Studies.


Book Synopsis Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama by : Matthieu Chapman

Download or read book Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama written by Matthieu Chapman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to deploy the methods and ensemble of questions from Afro-pessimism to engage and interrogate the methods of Early Modern English studies. Using contemporary Afro-pessimist theories to provide a foundation for structural analyses of race in the Early Modern Period, it engages the arguments for race as a fluid construction of human identity by addressing how race in Early Modern England functioned not only as a marker of human identity, but also as an a priori constituent of human subjectivity. Chapman argues that Blackness is the marker of social death that allows for constructions of human identity to become transmutable based on the impossibility of recognition and incorporation for Blackness into humanity. Using dramatic texts such as Othello, Titus Andronicus, and other Early Modern English plays both popular and lesser known, the book shifts the binary away from the currently accepted standard of white/non-white that defines "otherness" in the period and examines race in Early Modern England from the prospective of a non-black/black antagonism. The volume corrects the Afro-pessimist assumption that the Triangle Slave Trade caused a rupture between Blackness and humanity. By locating notions of Black inhumanity in England prior to chattel slavery, the book positions the Triangle Trade as a result of, rather than the cause of, Black inhumanity. It also challenges the common scholarly assumption that all varying types of human identity in Early Modern England were equally fluid by arguing that Blackness functioned as an immutable constant. Through the use of structural analysis, this volume works to simplify and demystify notions of race in Renaissance England by arguing that race is not only a marker of human identity, but a structural antagonism between those engaged in human civil society opposed to those who are socially dead. It will be an essential volume for those with interest in Renaissance Literature and Culture, Shakespeare, Contemporary Performance Theory, Black Studies, and Ethnic Studies.


Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide

Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide

Author: Michael Dobson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-10-30

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0192597469

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Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide is your essential companion to all Shakespeare's extant works (as well as those known to be lost). Two of our most eminent Shakespeare scholars guide us through his sonnets, his poems, and his plays, providing the reader with detailed scene-by-scene plot synopses, cast lists, notes on the texts and sources, discussions of artistic features, and accounts of significant productions on stage and screen. Derived from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, and fully updated to reflect the latest scholarship and most recent notable productions, it is the ideal compact guide for students and theatre-goers needing a helpful plot summary, or readers wishing to browse on fascinating background information.


Book Synopsis Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide by : Michael Dobson

Download or read book Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide written by Michael Dobson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-30 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide is your essential companion to all Shakespeare's extant works (as well as those known to be lost). Two of our most eminent Shakespeare scholars guide us through his sonnets, his poems, and his plays, providing the reader with detailed scene-by-scene plot synopses, cast lists, notes on the texts and sources, discussions of artistic features, and accounts of significant productions on stage and screen. Derived from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, and fully updated to reflect the latest scholarship and most recent notable productions, it is the ideal compact guide for students and theatre-goers needing a helpful plot summary, or readers wishing to browse on fascinating background information.


Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes

Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes

Author: Andrew Moore

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-08-29

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1498514081

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Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes explores Shakespeare’s political outlook by comparing some of the playwright’s best-known works to the works of Italian political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli and English social contract theorist Thomas Hobbes. By situating Shakespeare ‘between’ these two thinkers, the distinctly modern trajectory of the playwright’s work becomes visible. Throughout his career, Shakespeare interrogates the divine right of kings, absolute monarchy, and the metaphor of the body politic. Simultaneously he helps to lay the groundwork for modern politics through his dramatic explorations of consent, liberty, and political violence. We can thus understand Shakespeare’s corpus as a kind of eulogy: a funeral speech dedicated to outmoded and deficient theories of politics. We can also understand him as a revolutionary political thinker who, along with Machiavelli and Hobbes, reimagined the origins and ends of government. All three thinkers understood politics primarily as a response to our mortality. They depict politics as the art of managing and organizing human bodies—caring for their needs, making space for the satisfaction of desires, and protecting them from the threat of violent death. This book features new readings of Shakespeare’s plays that illuminate the playwright’s major political preoccupations and his investment in materialist politics.


Book Synopsis Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes by : Andrew Moore

Download or read book Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes written by Andrew Moore and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-08-29 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes explores Shakespeare’s political outlook by comparing some of the playwright’s best-known works to the works of Italian political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli and English social contract theorist Thomas Hobbes. By situating Shakespeare ‘between’ these two thinkers, the distinctly modern trajectory of the playwright’s work becomes visible. Throughout his career, Shakespeare interrogates the divine right of kings, absolute monarchy, and the metaphor of the body politic. Simultaneously he helps to lay the groundwork for modern politics through his dramatic explorations of consent, liberty, and political violence. We can thus understand Shakespeare’s corpus as a kind of eulogy: a funeral speech dedicated to outmoded and deficient theories of politics. We can also understand him as a revolutionary political thinker who, along with Machiavelli and Hobbes, reimagined the origins and ends of government. All three thinkers understood politics primarily as a response to our mortality. They depict politics as the art of managing and organizing human bodies—caring for their needs, making space for the satisfaction of desires, and protecting them from the threat of violent death. This book features new readings of Shakespeare’s plays that illuminate the playwright’s major political preoccupations and his investment in materialist politics.


Thicker Than Water

Thicker Than Water

Author: Lauren Weindling

Publisher: University of Alabama Press

Published: 2023-04-17

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0817361014

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"The proverb goes that "blood is thicker than water." But do common bloodlines in fact demand special duties or prescribe affections? Does this maxim presume that we can or should only love others biologically similar to ourselves? Are we nobler if we do, or somehow defective if we don't? "Thicker than Water" examines the roots of this belief by studying the omnipresent discourse of bloodlines and kindred relations in the literature of early modern Europe, specifically its role in the creation and maintenance of oppressive social structures. Lauren Weindling examines how drama from England, France, and Italy tests these assumptions about blood and love, exposing their underlying political function. Among the key texts that Weindling studies are Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice, Pierre Corneille's Le Cid, Giambattista della Porta's La Sorella and its English analog, Thomas Middleton's No Wit/Help Like a Woman's, John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Machiavelli's La Mandragola. Each of these plays in some way offers an extreme limit case for these beliefs in plots of love, courtship, and marriage (e.g., blood feuds or incest). They also illustrate that blood functions not as a biological basis for affinities, but discursively. Moreover, they feature the voices of marginalized groups, unprivileged by this ideology, which present significant counterpoints to this bloody worldview. Those outsiders reveal that finding alternative vocabularies to the bloody discourse of elite groups is both extremely difficult and often ineffectual, further evidenced by their persistence today. Much critical work on blood has examined this discourse as it manifests onstage: as evidence of guilt, the product of violence, or in bleeding figures. This book, instead, examines the work that blood does unseen in its connection to discourses of love and kinship-arbitrating social and emotional connections between persons, and thus underwriting our deepest forms of social organization"--


Book Synopsis Thicker Than Water by : Lauren Weindling

Download or read book Thicker Than Water written by Lauren Weindling and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2023-04-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The proverb goes that "blood is thicker than water." But do common bloodlines in fact demand special duties or prescribe affections? Does this maxim presume that we can or should only love others biologically similar to ourselves? Are we nobler if we do, or somehow defective if we don't? "Thicker than Water" examines the roots of this belief by studying the omnipresent discourse of bloodlines and kindred relations in the literature of early modern Europe, specifically its role in the creation and maintenance of oppressive social structures. Lauren Weindling examines how drama from England, France, and Italy tests these assumptions about blood and love, exposing their underlying political function. Among the key texts that Weindling studies are Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice, Pierre Corneille's Le Cid, Giambattista della Porta's La Sorella and its English analog, Thomas Middleton's No Wit/Help Like a Woman's, John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Machiavelli's La Mandragola. Each of these plays in some way offers an extreme limit case for these beliefs in plots of love, courtship, and marriage (e.g., blood feuds or incest). They also illustrate that blood functions not as a biological basis for affinities, but discursively. Moreover, they feature the voices of marginalized groups, unprivileged by this ideology, which present significant counterpoints to this bloody worldview. Those outsiders reveal that finding alternative vocabularies to the bloody discourse of elite groups is both extremely difficult and often ineffectual, further evidenced by their persistence today. Much critical work on blood has examined this discourse as it manifests onstage: as evidence of guilt, the product of violence, or in bleeding figures. This book, instead, examines the work that blood does unseen in its connection to discourses of love and kinship-arbitrating social and emotional connections between persons, and thus underwriting our deepest forms of social organization"--


Shakespeare on Prejudice

Shakespeare on Prejudice

Author: B. J. Sokol

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-02-10

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1350168416

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How are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays? In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed. Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.


Book Synopsis Shakespeare on Prejudice by : B. J. Sokol

Download or read book Shakespeare on Prejudice written by B. J. Sokol and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-10 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays? In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed. Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.


For the Sake of Argument

For the Sake of Argument

Author: Christopher Hitchens

Publisher: Verso

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780860914358

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'For the sake of argument, one must never let a euphemism or a false consolation pass uncontested. The truth seldom lies, but when it does lie it lies somewhere in between.'. The global turmoil of the last few years has severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few have written with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and with about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. For the Sake of Argument ranges from the political squalor of Washington, as a beleaguered Bush administration seeks desperately to stave off disaster and Clinton prepares for power, to the twilight of Stalinism in Prague; from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the embattled barrios of Central America and the imperishable resistance of Saralevo, as a difficult peace is negotiated with ruthless foes. Hitchens' unsparing account of Western realpolitik in the end shows it to rest on delusion as well as deception. The reader will find in these pages outstanding essays on political asassination in America as well as a scathing review of the evisceration of politics by pollsters and spin-doctors. Hitchens' knowledge of the tortuous history of revolutions in the twentieth century helps him to explain both the New York intelligentsia's flirtation with Trotskyism and the frailty of Communist power structures in Eastern Europe. Hitchens' pointed reassessments of Graham Greene, P.G. Wodehouse and C.L.R. James, or his riotous celebration of drinkiny and smoking, display an engaging enthusiasm and an acerbic wit. Equally entertaining is his unsparing rogues' gallery, which gives us unforgettable portraits of the lugubrious 'Dr'Kissinger, the comprehensively reactionary 'Mother' Teresa, the preposterous Paul Johnson and the predictable P.J. O'Rourke.


Book Synopsis For the Sake of Argument by : Christopher Hitchens

Download or read book For the Sake of Argument written by Christopher Hitchens and published by Verso. This book was released on 1993 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'For the sake of argument, one must never let a euphemism or a false consolation pass uncontested. The truth seldom lies, but when it does lie it lies somewhere in between.'. The global turmoil of the last few years has severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few have written with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and with about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. For the Sake of Argument ranges from the political squalor of Washington, as a beleaguered Bush administration seeks desperately to stave off disaster and Clinton prepares for power, to the twilight of Stalinism in Prague; from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the embattled barrios of Central America and the imperishable resistance of Saralevo, as a difficult peace is negotiated with ruthless foes. Hitchens' unsparing account of Western realpolitik in the end shows it to rest on delusion as well as deception. The reader will find in these pages outstanding essays on political asassination in America as well as a scathing review of the evisceration of politics by pollsters and spin-doctors. Hitchens' knowledge of the tortuous history of revolutions in the twentieth century helps him to explain both the New York intelligentsia's flirtation with Trotskyism and the frailty of Communist power structures in Eastern Europe. Hitchens' pointed reassessments of Graham Greene, P.G. Wodehouse and C.L.R. James, or his riotous celebration of drinkiny and smoking, display an engaging enthusiasm and an acerbic wit. Equally entertaining is his unsparing rogues' gallery, which gives us unforgettable portraits of the lugubrious 'Dr'Kissinger, the comprehensively reactionary 'Mother' Teresa, the preposterous Paul Johnson and the predictable P.J. O'Rourke.