I really want to like Christopher Hitchens, but he kind of gives me the creeps. I had more respect for him when I first glanced at this book on my father's bookshelf (a gift from my step-father) as a teenager, before I'd had to see his rather bloated, snide personage one too many times as a guest pundit on CNN. Now, I find myself not trusting him as much as I would like to, because he makes some good points.

Mother Theresa is not above criticism, and I see in this book much foreshadowing of the theme he beats to death in God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, namely, that religion throughout the world (and throughout history) is too often a shield for other evils, which are unattackable due to their being religious in origin.

The structure of the book takes us through a series of snapshots and film clips that Hitchens has assembled to create a portrait of Mother Theresa that is much more complicated that the one presented to the world. He asks good questions, such as what this Nobel Peace Prize recipient has actually done to promote the cause of peace, and makes good points about the real purpose of her work, which is not actually to relieve the poverty or suffering of the poor or sick, but to baptize them (secretly, and without their informed consent, at times). It's an easy read, and the chapter in which he discusses Mother Theresa's letter requesting forgiveness for savings and loan criminal Charles Keating was the high point of the book for me.