The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death and Atheism

The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death and Atheism

A wickedly witty satire, The Loser Letters chronicles the conversion of a young adult Christian to atheism. With modern humor rivaling that of the media lampooning Onion , found on college campuses all over America, A. F. Christian’s open letters to the “spokesmen of the New Atheism” explain her reasons for rejecting God and the logical consequences of that choice. Along the way she offers pithy advice to famous atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, in the hope of helping them win over more Christians. “Of course we score big time with the young guys who aren’t responsible for anything, and don’t really care about anything besides spending most of their time in the basement playing video games and texting girls,” A.F. Christian points out. But what about all those serious, thoughtful people who are Christian believers? If the New Atheism is to make real headway, she argues, its advocates must do more to persuade intelligent theists living meaningful and fulfilling lives. Amid the many current books arguing for or against religion, social critic and writer Mary Eberstadt’s The Loser Letters is truly unique: a black comedy about theism and atheism that is simultaneously a rollicking defense of Christianity. Echoing C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and Dante’s Divine Comedy , Eberstadt takes aim at bestsellers like The God Delusion and God Is Not Great with the sexual libertinism their authors advocate. In her loveable and articulate tragic-comic heroine, A.F. Christian, Dawkins, Hitchens and the other “Brights” have met their match. " The Loser Letters draws inevitable comparisons to C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters , and rightly so.....a provocative, compelling case [made] with rare grace and conviction." --Claire Gillen, The Washington Times " The Loser Letters is an instant classic." --Nancy Piccione, The Catholic Post "...[C.S.] Lewis now has a rival: The Loser Letters , by Mary Eberstadt.... this is witty and wicked satire." ---Scot McKnight, beliefnet.com "[T]he engaging author....deftly channels C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters through the voice of a fictional twentysomething survivor of college hookups, detox, and Facebook relationship etiquette." --Joan Desmond, The Weekly Standard "Eberstadt brilliantly defends the faith from radical New Atheism with wit and humor....more than a match for Hitchens and Dawkins and their flying spaghetti monster." --Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register Mary Eberstadt  is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, consulting editor to  Policy Review , and contributing writer to  First Things . Her articles have appeared in the  Weekly Standard , the  American Spectator ,  Commentary , the  Los Angeles Times , the  London Times , and the Wall Street Journal . Her previous books include  Adam and Eve after the Pill ,  The Loser Letters , and  Home-Alone America .   The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death, and Atheism