Christopher Hitchens died from complications related to oesophageal cancer in December 2011, at the age of 62. He was a complicated man who shifted his political positions Left to Right and back again. What drew me to Hitchens was his brilliant writing–even though I disagreed with some of it. Hitchens wrote snarky reviews and did not suffer fools gladly.
A Hitch in Time collects random book reviews, letter battles with his adversaries, and essays not in other Hitchens books. Some of these pieces are dated, but some are still as sparkling after decades. I enjoyed reading about Tom Wolfe, P. G. Wodehouse, Salman Rushdie, Spanking, Bill Clinton, and Gore Vidal.
My favorite essay in A Hitch in Time is “Moderation or Death: On Isaiah Berlin.” Isaiah Berlin advised Governments and International Corporations for decades. He was a controversial figure because he was independent and pragmatic.
If you haven’t read any of Christopher Hitchens books, check the links below the Table of Contents for my reviews of his work. You might not agree with Hitchens, but you’ll marvel at his incisive writing style. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Foreword by James Wolcott — vii
- The Wrong Stuff: On Tom Wolfe, 1983 — 1
- Diary: Operation Desert Storm, 1991 — 11
- Oh, Lionel! On P. G. Wodehouse, 1992 — 21
- Mary, Mary: On J. Edgar Hoover, 1993 — 29
- Say What You Will About Harold: On Harold Wilson, 1993 — 41
- Diary: The Salman Rushdie Acid Test, 1994 — 55
- Diary: Spanking, 1994 — 65
- Who Runs Britain? Police Espionage, 1994 — 77
- Lucky Kim: On Kim Philby, 1995 — 91
- Diary: At the Oscars, 1995 — 105
- Look Over Your Shoulder: The Oklahoma Bombing, 1995 — 115
- Letters: Richard Cummings, Christopher Hitchens — 125
- After-Time: On Gore Vidal, 1995 — 131
- A Hard Dog to Keep on the Porch: On Bill Clinton, 1996 — 145
- The Trouble with HRH: On Princess Margaret, 1997 — 169
- Brief Shining Moments: Kennedy and Nixon, 1998 — 179
- Letters: Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Christopher Hitchens, Mervyn Jones — 197
- Acts of Violence in Grosvenor Square: On 1968, 1998 — 205
- Diary: The “Almanach de Gotha,” 1998 — 219
- Moderation or Death: On Isaiah Berlin, 1998 — 227
- Letters: Roger Scruton, Francis Wheen, Mark Lilly, Christopher Hitchens — 273
- What a Lot of Parties: On Diana Mosley, 1999 — 279
- 11 September 1973: Pinochet and Britain, 2002 — 289
- INDEX — 303
No links
I’ve read some of his and always meant to read more.
Jeff, I admired Christopher Hitchens’s writing even when I disagreed with it. But Hitchens was a heavy drinker and smoker…and that cut his Life short.
I hadn’t realized he’d died so young, as I’d let my THE NATION subscription lapse not long before and was working 60 hours a week and otherwise things were, shall we say, concentrating my attention. Spanking is capitalized?
Todd, Hitchens died young, but he caused his early death with his Bad Habits.
Also, links to previous reviews not up yet, as I see it.
Todd, WORDPRESS is messing with my links again. I’ll try to fix them…but don’t hold your breath.
All sympathies. At times, Blogger/Blogspot is a fundamental pain, as well.
Todd, my Life has enough Aggravation without WORDPRESS adding to it…
I’ve enjoyed his work—in small doses, because sometimes it does feel that he was smashing windows just to get attention. On the other hand, some of his most controversial stuff (for example, his analysis of Mother Theresa’s overt cruelty) was also some of his most insightful. The biggest surprise here is that Hitchens has been dead 15 years. If you’d have asked me when he died, I would have guessed about five years ago.
Deb, yes, Hitchens died 15 years ago, but some of his work is still being published. The guy was a prolific writer!
Land o’ Goshen, this sounds like something I would like! I’m sure I’ll never see a copy, but if I do…!
Bob, if I run across a copy, I’ll send it to you!
Thanks! I’ll look for one, too!