New Releases by Christopher Hitchens

" La plupart des gens cherchent avant tout la sécurité et l'approbation générale. Il ne faut ni s'en étonner ni juger leurs ambitions intrinsèquement condamnables. Cela dit, on a toujours vu surgir des personnalités qui, d'une manière ou d'une autre, se sentaient à part. Je ne crois pas exagérer en déclarant que l'humanité leur doit énormément, qu'elle soit prête ou non à reconnaître sa dette. Ne t'attends surtout pas à des remerciements. Personne ne prétend qu'une vie d'opposant soit de tout repos. " Sur le modèle des célèbres Lettres à un jeune poète, de Rainer Maria Rilke, Christopher Hitchens nous adresse ces dix-huit Lettres à un jeune rebelle. Un récit épistolaire à l'attention des jeunes générations pour qui la dissidence doit redevenir une vertu, une philosophie optimiste de la vie. L'esprit de contradiction, seul, est capable de faire progresser la démocratie contre les idées reçues. Preuves à l'appui, l'auteur de ces lettres explore avec brio le registre de l'anticonformisme et en salue les maîtres tels que Freud, Zola, Vaclav Havel, Salman Rushdie... Un essai sur le fil du rasoir. Nul autre que Christopher Hitchens, avec l'impertinence qui l'a rendu célèbre, ne pouvait mieux lancer la polémique !

The Elgin Marbles, designed and executed by Phidias to adorn the Parthenon, are some of the most beautiful sculptures of ancient Greece. In 1801 Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Turkish government in Athens, had pieces of the frieze sawn off and removed to Britain, where they remain, igniting a storm of controversy which has continued to the present day. In the first full-length work on this fiercely debated issue, Christopher Hitchens recounts the history of these precious sculptures and forcefully makes the case for their return to Greece. Drawing out the artistic, moral, legal and political perspectives of the argument, Hitchens's eloquent prose makes The Elgin Marbles an invaluable contribution to one of the most important cultural controversies of our times.

'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.

This is an account of the history of special relationship that is supposed to exist between America and Great Britain. The book starts its survey just prior to World War I and charts the rise of the friendship between the nations before going on to look at the Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence. It then analyzes the recent friendship between Thatcher and Reagan which was tested in such episodes as the Falklands war, the invasion of Grenada and the bombing of Tripoli.

De politieke gebeurtenissen op Cyprus vooral rond de Turkse militaire invasie in 1974

The present report attempts to anatomize the social and economic predicament of Africans in Zimbabwe, in the context of an exceptionally (and unnecessarily) painful and prolonged transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Please note that the terminology in the fields of minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights has changed over time. MRG strives to reflect these changes as well as respect the right to self-identification on the part of minorities and indigenous peoples. At the same time, after over 50 years’ work, we know that our archive is of considerable interest to activists and researchers. Therefore, we make available as much of our back catalogue as possible, while being aware that the language used may not reflect current thinking on these issues.