He raises hackles or receives resounding cheers, he's loved or hated but never ignored. Christopher Hitchens is possibly the most provocative writer of our time, fearless and forthright with no subject off limits.

This volume of essays spans a remarkable four decades of writing. From early articles in the New Statesman where he worked alongside writers such as Ian McEwan and Martin Amis, through to his pieces for Salon, The Atlantic and Vanity Fair, these articles display his rare genius, indomitable wit and singular command of language. World figures from Clinton to Mother Teresa, Kissinger to Benazir Bhutto go under his unforgiving microscope. Issues from Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan to Iran and literary musings on the leading writers of the last fifty years form the richest tapestry a reader could ask.

'Don't mince words' is the title of one of these pieces. Nor does he, nor has he over the course of a dozen books of which the most recent are the best selling God is not Great and Hitch-22, and hundreds of articles of which the cream of the crop is here.