Hitchens ... never seeks to conceal the dramatic nature of his own ideological odyssey ... Today, famously, he is a fully fledged flail of the left, though interestingly this has not led to any great devotion to the Tory cause, least of all as represented by the emollient David Cameron. If there is one thing that can be counted on from the reconstructed Hitchens, it is his eagerness to go tooth and nail for political timidity wherever he detects it and, in his view, "compassionate Conservatism" is every bit as vulnerable in this respect as was New Labour back in 1997. He writes with much of the verve and brio of his elder brother and with a greater regard for detail and accuracy.

Anthony Howard, New Statesman

A controversial and fascinating book ... could not put it down, it gave me plenty of food for thought.  I enjoyed it tremendously and highly recommend it.

BFKbooks

This book has some passages of quite brilliant writing and it is at its best when Peter reflects on his own life and his disillusionment with the left-wing ideology of his youth. I long to see him take the next stage in his writer's journey and examine, with his unsparing honesty, the rich human reality of the division he believes is now more important than the split between Left and Right - the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist.

Michael Gove, The Times