God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

HITCHENS, Christopher [Anne Rice].

Item Number: 125686

New York: Twelve/Hachette Book Group, 2007.

First edition of this polemic by Hitchens, from the library of novelist and author of Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice. Octavo, original boards. On July 28, 2010, Rice publicly announced her disdain for the current state of Christianity, stating, “Today I quit being a Christian…. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.” Shortly thereafter, she clarified her statement: “My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.” Following her announcement, Rice’s critique of Christianity was commented upon by numerous journalists and pundits. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rice elaborated on her view regarding being a member of a Christian church: “I feel much more morally comfortable walking away from organized religion. I respect that there are all kinds of denominations and all kinds of churches, but it’s the entire controversy, the entire conversation that I need to walk away from right now.” In response to the question, “how do you follow Christ without a church?” Rice replied: “I think the basic ritual is simply prayer. It’s talking to God, putting things in the hands of God, trusting that you’re living in God’s world and praying for God’s guidance. And being absolutely faithful to the core principles of Jesus’ teachings.” In 2011, Rice participated in the “I Am Second” project, with a short documentary about her spiritual journey. With her name on the front free endpaper, “Anne Rice Bought when published. Reopened Sept 1, 2010.” With her tabs and marginalia in the text. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Anne Twomey. An exceptional example with noted provenance.

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.