That combination of dogged truth-telling and tactical snideness defines Hitchens. He was memorably dubbed “Christopher Snitchens” by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and widely condemned for his affidavit incriminating his friend, Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal, in defaming Monica Lewinsky. Most recently, Hitchens has been sparring on the pages of The Nation with radical icon Noam Chomsky over the role of U.S. foreign policy in provoking the Sept. 11 attacks.

All of this makes him an obvious candidate for teaching ethical resistance. But like so many eminent sages who dabble in teaching, Hitchens is often too distracted by his own meditations to notice his students very much. In the end, the practical impact of his insights must be raked out of the heap of historical accounts, literary reflections and sweeping pronouncements.

Steeped in the Western canon and the weight of his own intellectual superiority, Hitchens’ book would be worth reading even if all he had were the trappings of a superb stylist—an obvious delight in the English language with which to cast his scrutiny, and a spiked wit that sometimes cuts at the expense of a proportionate level of intensity. In fact, he takes pride in obsessively driving points home, devoting an entire chapter in this slim volume to the art of being considered boring in pursuit of one’s ideals.

Hitchens has disdain in abundance; for the ideal of consensus, for religion and piety, for phony populism and for any number of perceived half-truths, betrayals, insincerities and miscarriages of justice. But he manages to redeem himself from excessive negativity, or intellectual masturbation, for that matter, by offering at least some valuable direction: “Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish.... Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.”