Perspective

The stance Hitchens adopts in this book is both entertaining and typical of his penchant for taking a surprising or unpopular position on a subject, and then using intelligent argument to attempt to convince readers that he is correct. In the case of this book, he begins with the startling premise that Mother Teresa is a manipulator who cares less about helping the poor than she does about advancing the political and economic aims of the Church. Each step of the way, he not only builds on that premise, but his criticism of Mother Teresa escalates along with the evidence he presents. The reader might react with skepticism, applause, horror, or disgust, but indifference is unlikely. Principally a political commentator, Hitchens' method is nothing like traditional, objective journalism, but it is an excellent example of subjective journalism, in which the reporter's opinion is central to the story. In...