The test of this kind of book is for the reader to be able to open it anywhere and be drawn into the argument; it's a test that Hitchens passes time and time again... He can be devilishly funny, but he is also capable of writing with acid seriousness. -- The Independent The global turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few wrote with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and wit about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. First published in 1993, the writings in For the Sake of Argument range from the political squalor of Washington to the twilight of Stalinizm in Prague, from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the embattled barrios of Central America. Hitchens provides re-assessments of Graham Greene, P. G. Woodhouse and C. L. R. James, and his rogues' gallery gives us portraits of Henry Kissinger, Mother Theresa and P. J. O'Rouke. The addition of pieces on political assassination in America, as well as a devastating indictment of the evisceration of politics by pollsters and spin doctors, and an entertaining celebration of booze and fags, complete this outstanding collection from a writer of unequalled talent.

Table of Contents:
1: Where Were You Standing? 2: On the Imagination of Conspiracy 3: Contempt for the Little Colony 4: The State Within the State 5: Voting in the Passive Voice 6: The Hate that Dare Not Speak Its Name 7: A Pundit Who Need Never Dine Alone 8: Hard on the Houseboy 9: New Orleans in a Brown Shirt 10: Rioting in Mount Pleasant 11: Billionaire Populism 12: The Clemency of Clinton 13: Clinton as Rhodesian 14: Bill's Bills in Miami 15: Realpolitik in the Gulf: A Game Gone Tilt 16: Churchillian Delusions 17: No End of a Lesson 18: Befriending the Kurds 19: Arise, Sir Norman 20: Jewish in Damascus 21: Songs Fit For Heroes 22: Hating Sweden 23: Squeezing Costa Rica 24: The Saviour 25: Tio Sam 26: The Autumn of Patriarch 27: Third Thoughts 28: Cretinismo Eroico 29: The Twilight of Panzerkommunismus 30: Police Mentality 31: On the Road to Timsoara 32: Bricks in the Wall 33: The Free Market Cargo Cult 34: Now Neo-conservatives Perish 35: Appointment in Sarajevo 36: 'Society' and Its Enemies 37: Credibility Politics: Sado-Monetarist Economics 38: Union Jackshirt: Ingham's Conservative Chic 39: Neil Kinnock: Defeat Without Honour 40: Bribing and Twisting 41: How's the Vampire? 42: Charlie's Angel 43: Unhappy Families 44: Princess of Dysfunction 45: New York Intellectuals and the Prophet Outcast 46: Clubland Intellectuals 47: The 'We' Fallacy 48: Shouting Anarchy 49: Politically Correct 50: Friend of Promise 51: Booze and Fags 52: Nixon: Maestro of Resentment 53: Kissinger: A Touch of Evil 54: Berlin's Mandate for Palestine 55: Ghoul of Calcutta 56: The Life of Johnson 57: A Grave Disappointment All Round 58: Too Big For His Boot 59: P.J. O'Rourke: Not Funny Enough 60: Not Funny Enough (2) 61: Warhol in One Dimension 62: Siding with Rushdie 63: Goya's Radical Pessimism 64: Degenerate Art 65: James Baldwin: Humanity First 66: Updike on the Make 67: P.G. Wodehouse in Love, Poverty and War 68: Greene: Where the Shadow Falls 69: Kazuo Ishiguro 70: Victor Serge 71: C.L.R James 72: In Defence of Daniel Deronda