Hitch-22 (2010)

by Christopher Hitchens

Sometimes there are public figures whose voices and viewpoints are so complementary to our own that we allow them to become a part of our lives in a way that only today’s technology, such as the internet, can make possible.

 

When they die, we feel their absence, although the technology that permitted us access to them also grants them a sort of perpetual afterlife.

 

Roger Ebert was such a person to me.

 

"Hitch-22: Confessions and Contradictions" (Spanish)

Another was Christopher Hitchens.

 

Christopher Hitchens

It was a pleasure to listen to the audio version of his excellent memoir, read in his own voice.

 

"The Hitch: Confessions of an Indomitable" (German)

Although I didn’t always agree with him, I admired his quick wit, his debating skills, and his passionate defense of skepticism and rationality. However, he always seemed somewhat cold to me. This book dispelled some of that feeling. It is more the story of his development as an intellectual and political being than a narrative that dotes on the details of his family life. Nevertheless, there are some very revealing passages that grant us access to a Hitchens that is warmer and more accessible than his public facade. He writes about his much loved and tragic mother. He also shares how disarmed he was by his warm reception by the family of a soldier who, inspired by his writing, went to war in the Middle East, where he died. He also shows how his controversial support for the Iraq War was largely motivated by the outrage he felt over the imperious cruelties of dictators. A very interesting and rewarding book.