SOURCE: Loudon, Mary. Review of The Missionary Position, by Christopher Hitchens. British Medical Journal (6 January 1996): 64–65.

In the following review, Loudon offers a favorable assessment of The Missionary Position.

“Who would be so base,” asks Christopher Hitchens, “as to pick on a wizened, shrivelled old lady, well stricken in years, who has consecrated her whole life to the needy and destitute?”

The answer is Hitchens himself, in this provocative study [The Missionary Position] of the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He presents a marvellous case, debunking the myth of Mother Teresa as simply as one might peel layers from an onion, producing some old and quite a lot of new evidence to suggest that Mother Teresa, the global icon of sainthood, needs fresh examination in a light unclouded by sentiment.

Mother Teresa's shining reputation, argues Hitchens, has been foist upon her by the millions who need to feel...