Arguably
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Christopher Hitchens |
| Products | Essay collection |
Arguably: Essays is a 2011 publication by Christopher Hitchens, comprising 107 essays that delve into political and cultural issues. These pieces initially appeared in prominent publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Newsweek, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and Vanity Fair. The anthology also features introductions Hitchens penned for new editions of classic works such as Animal Farm and Our Man in Havana. The book was met with predominantly favorable critical response.
Reception
Fred Inglis, writing for The Independent, lauded Hitchens as a "master of prose" and an adept polemicist, emphasizing his sharp insights and keen literary analysis. According to Kirkus Reviews, the essays represent "classic Hitchens," noted for their argumentative nature and enduring significance. Charles Foran from The Globe and Mail described the 750-page volume as "luminous, witty, and nearly always infused with compelling reportage and debate," underscoring Hitchens's lasting impact as an essayist. Bill Keller of The New York Times acknowledged Hitchens's remarkable intellectual breadth, while Nicholas Shakespeare of The Daily Telegraph praised his intelligence, humor, and fervor across a wide array of topics.
In the pages of the New Statesman, John Gray offered criticism of Hitchens's stance on terrorism but still regarded the collection as "the legacy of an extraordinarily gifted intellect," highlighting essays such as "The Vietnam Syndrome." Finton O'Toole in The Observer provided a nuanced review, commending Hitchens as an exceptionally evocative journalist while cautioning about occasional unsupported assertions and ideological partiality. In 2016, James Ley writing for The Sydney Morning Herald ranked Arguably among Hitchens's finest compilations, exemplifying his prowess as a journalist, literary critic, and cultural analyst.
Awards and honors
- Included in the 2011 New York Times Best Books of the Year
- Recipient of the 2012 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay
Books reviewed
- Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers, by Brooke Allen
- Jefferson's Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello, by Andrew Burstein
- Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present, authored by Michael Oren
- Benjamin Franklin Unmasked, by Jerry Weinberger
- John Brown, Abolitionist, by David S. Reynolds
- Abraham Lincoln: A Life, written by Michael Burlingame
- The Singular Mark Twain, by Fred Kaplan
- The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
- An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, by Robert Dallek
- Selected novels from Saul Bellow including: Dangling Man, The Victim, The Adventures of Augie March, Seize the Day, Henderson the Rain King, and Herzog
- Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita along with its annotated edition edited by Alfred Appel, Jr.
- Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism, by John Updike
- A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900, by Andrew Roberts
- Matthew Scully’s Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
- Hilary Mantel’s novel Wolf Hall
- Edmund Burke’s classic work Reflections on the Revolution in France, edited by Frank W. Turner
- Peter Martin’s biography titled Samuel Johnson: A Biography
- Gustave Flaubert’s Bouvard and Pecuchet, translated by Mark Polizotti
- Michael Slater’s study on Charles Dickens
- Selected journalism of Karl Marx compiled in Dispatches for the New York Tribune, edited by James Ledbetter, with a foreword from Francis Wheen
- A. David Moody’s first volume of Ezra Pound’s biography covering 1885-1920
- The correspondence collection titled Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford, edited by Peter Y. Sussman
- Biographies including Jeffrey Meyers’s Somerset Maugham: A Life, Robert McCrum’s Wodehouse: A Life, Andrew Lownie’s study on John Buchan titled John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier, and Norman Sherry’s second volume of Graham Greene’s life (1955-1991)
- Memoirs and letters such as Anthony Powell’s memoirs titled To Keep the Ball Rolling and Philip Larkin’s correspondence collected in Letters to Monica, edited by Anthony Thwaite
- Literary biographies like John Sutherland’s authorized biography of Stephen Spender and Farrukh Dhondy’s work on C.L.R. James focusing on cricket, Caribbean history, and global revolution
- Anthologies including collections like J. G. Ballard’s complete stories; Sandie Byrne’s compilation titled The Unbearable Saki; and the PEN anthology of contemporary Iranian literature called Strange Times, My Dear, edited by Nahid Mozzaffari
- Popular titles such as J. K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Historical and political analyses including Alistair Horne’s study on Algeria titled A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962, Robert Irwin’s critique in Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents, Edward Said’s seminal work on orientalism, and Gary J. Bass’s examination titled Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention
- Revolutionary memoirs like Victor Serge’s works: The Case of Comrade Tulayev and his broader memoirs
- Biographical studies on intellectuals and political figures such as Olivier Todd’s biography of Malraux and Michael Scammell’s account titled Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic
- Other significant reviews covering twentieth-century history, politics, and literature including Ian Kershaw's Hitler biography, Victor Klemperer's diaries, Pat Buchanan's political commentary, Nicholson Baker's historical perspectives, as well as W.G. Sebald's meditations on destruction
Book introductions
- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, authored by Rebecca West
- Animal Farm, written by George Orwell
- Our Man in Havana, composed by Graham Greene
- The House of the Spirits, created by Isabel Allende