British-American author and essayist Christopher Hitchens died Thursday from complications of esophageal cancer. He was 62.
Essayist Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate on Iraq and the foreign policies of the United States and Britain, in this Sept. 14, 2005 file photo taken in New York.
Essayist Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate on Iraq and the foreign policies of the United States and Britain, in this Sept. 14, 2005 file photo taken in New York.
Political essayist Christopher Hitchens dead at 62
In 1995, Hitchens wrote this essay settings to uncover the true portrait of who Mother Teresa was, and whether or not her idolization was earned. His findings were exceedingly critical of the rather ruthless "care" he believe that she doled out within her hospitals. Hitchens himself professed to be more concerned with how the public viewed her than in actually attacking her character. While there were many critics who praised this fiery and risky essay, there were just as many who believe that the content within went too far. However, this criticism simply emboldened Hitchens, as he went on to write many more essays and novels, including Letters to a Young Contrarian, Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens, Why Orwell Matters and Hitch 22: The Memoir, to name but a few.Britain’s best-known man of letters in Washington, the essayist Christopher Hitchens, has cut short a book tour to have chemotherapy for throat cancer.A conversation with journalist and essayist Christopher Hitchens about his book "Letters to a Young Contrarian", which chronicles his contrary positions towards well-known figures and ideas. He also discusses his recent trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan along with discussing middle east politics and the war on terror.The late essayist Christopher Hitchens argued that political polarity is traceable to a disagreement between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson over the value and meaning of Thomas Paine. When he arrived in Philadelphia in 1774 the 37-year-old English ex-pat, and soon-to-be editor and propagandist seemed destined for division. The American Revolution is inconceivable apart from the galvanizing influence of Paine’s populist pen. The mega-bestseller Common Sense tipped political sentiment, girded loins, and drew muskets. The selfless, albeit imprudent, author waived all proceeds, and donated everything to the cause of liberty. And yet, a generation later, when the impoverished and frail reformer returned from political imprisonment (and near execution) in France, Americans greeted him with contempt. His crime? A treatise, The Age of Reason, which relentlessly argued that formal religion was an irrational human vice. Paine, however, was no atheist; but readers were unready for intellectual terrain beyond the black and white of belief and disbelief.
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a columnist for Vanity Fair and the author, most recently, of Arguably, a collection of essays.
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