This book was recommended to me by a friend several times before I finally gave it a shot. I was a little wary from the title...I enjoy books about religion (and people's escapes from them), but don't have a lot of time for openly, anti-religious folks' emotional whining and ranting.
To my pleasant surprise, Christopher Hitchens' book was a joy. Hitchens gradually found himself appalled by the amount of religiously-fueled atrocity on our planet. Our various religious leaders are constantly pointing to the amount of "evil" on earth as a sign of man's sinfulness (and demonic tampering), but Hitchens shows, in example after example, that most of the atrocities are carried out by these very religious people themselves. Nobody is spared here: Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, on and on.
This book takes an objective look at history and modern life, and points its finger at every instance of war, injustice, persecution, genocide, slavery, racism, ethnic-cleansing, intolerance, child-molestation, etc...and notices that - without exception - these are always propagated by religious ideals. His conclusion is in the title: "Religion poisons everything."
The one chapter where he loses my attention is his expose on evolution, and subsequent conclusion that these "facts" should be enough to silence all the religiously inclined. There are many people, like myself, who have no problem with the concept of evolution. As much as I have examined the evidence though, I see it as simply another theory lacking any hard evidence. It's handled almost religiously by scientists who, I think, sometimes forget that they are supposed to be scientific. (though Hitchens is not a scientist) For those who are decidedly non-evolutionists, this side-track will weaken Hitchens' overall case for you. Vice versa for those of you who embrace it. Personally, I think this book could have stood just as well (or even better) without it. His other information is difficult to argue with, so this just gives his detractors something to nit-pick about.
Hitchen's has an immensely enjoyable writing style, with an elegantly flowing prose resting upon a razor-sharp wit. I had to re-read countless passages many times simply because I was amazed his ability to construct such poignant and humorous sentences.
If you're heavily religious (I know some Christians are fond of saying they're not religious at all. If you are, and that is your stance, then I'm talking SPECIFICALLY to YOU), this book is not for you! You will be offended. This is a book for open-minded people who believe that - if humans are to continually progress - established institutions must be constantly re-examined, and ultimately discarded when they no longer serve their purpose.