The missionary position Mother Teresa in theory and practice

An extended, nun-busting polemic from the The Nation columnist. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Hitchens (For the Sake of Argument, LJ 6/1/93), a columnist for the Nation, debunks missionary Mother Teresa's saintly, humane persona. He characterizes this 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner as a political opportunistic promoter of a cult of submission among the poor, who suffer under her substandard medical care. Hitchens claims she is an ideological accomplice and moral legitimizer for the political right, including Charles Keating of the Savings and Loan scandal, Ronald Reagan, and the Haitian Duvaliers. This readable, caustic polemic is very short on biographical data and cited sources and lacks scholarly development. Given its provocative nature, it is recommended for libraries owning several titles about Mother Teresa despite its weaknesses.‘Charles L. Lumpkins, Bloomsburg Univ. Lib., Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.