L. Mencken, who became an early mentor and whose cigar-waving directness and contrariness appealed to him.

NEWYORKER: This Woman��s Work

Besides delivering quality work, Dawson has stayed in business by practicing cyclical contrariness.

FORBES: Optimistic on oil

Sometimes I thought I did remember, but out of contrariness or fear of getting things wrong I pretended not to.

NEWYORKER: Gravel

That act, like those moments from Garbo, Gish, and Brooks, suggests a vein of contrariness and complication, the astonishments of art.

NEWYORKER: The Artists

The popularity, and the contrariness, of the opposition after the reintroduction of democracy in 1989 seem to have taken him aback.

ECONOMIST: How indispensable is King Hussein?

When in power, the BJP proposed similar retail reforms, so its contrariness now is breathtakingly cynical and could be self-defeating if, as it seems to believe, the party returns to office at the next general election, due in 2014.

ECONOMIST: Indian reform