Hitchens, Christopher

Born in the family of a naval officer. Hitchens mother was Jewish . ^[2] Committed suicide in Athens in 1973 . ^[3]

He graduated from Oxford University . After moving to the United States in 1981 , he began writing for The Nation, where he fiercely criticized Ronald Reagan , George W. Bush and US foreign policy in South and Central America ^{[4] [5]} . In 1992, he became a columnist at Vanity Fair.

During his early career, Hitchens was a foreign correspondent in Cyprus . There he met his first wife ^[5] , with whom he had two children, Alexander and Sofia.

In 1989, he met his second wife, Carol Blue, with whom they had a daughter in common.

Sickness and death

In June 2010, Hitchens put off a tour in support of his book Hitch-22 to undergo treatment for cancer of the esophagus . He announced his illness in an article for Vanity Fair, which he entitled Topic of Cancer ^[6] . Hitchens noted that the long-term outlook is far from optimistic, and that he will be very lucky if he lives another five years ^[7] .

On December 15, 2011, Christopher Hitchens died of pneumonia (a complication of esophageal cancer) at the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas ^[8] . In accordance with his will, his body was donated for medical research ^[9] .

Among those who influenced Hitchens are George Orwell , Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Payne (one of Hitchens’s books is dedicated to the latter).

Political

In his youth, Hitchens was influenced by leftist ideas and even in recent years characterized himself as a Marxist ^{[10] [11]} .

In the 1960s, he sharply criticized the war in Vietnam , in protest against the position of Harold Wilson, who supported the war , left the Labor Party (which was from 1965 to 1967), published in the journal International Socialism , published by International Socialism the ultra-left group International Socialists (still existing under the name Socialist Workers' Party ). The motto of this organization, which refused to recognize the countries of the socialist camp as workers' states, was "Neither Washington nor Moscow , but international socialism." Among the idols of Hitchens was Che Guevara .

Over time, he broke with the left movement and became his critic; One of the turning points was 1989 , when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in which he sentenced Salman Rushdi to death. Since then, Hitchens has criticized the Left, among other things for their tolerance of radical Islamism.

Hitchens often used the term “ Islamofascism ” (or “fascism with an Islamic face”) and spoke of Islamic extremists as follows ^[12] :

In 2006, Hitchens described himself as follows: “I am no longer a socialist, but I am still a Marxist” ^[11] . In his opinion, modern socialists are not able to offer a positive alternative to capitalism ; Hitchens hailed US globalization and interventionist policies. At the same time, in his opinion, Marxist analysis is able to explain many problems of the modern capitalist economy, including the recession of the late 2000s .

Hitchens sided with Britain in the Falkland War . He also supported American operations in Yugoslavia , Afghanistan (to which he criticized the American government for indecision in opposing Islamism) and Iraq .

In the 2000 elections, Hitchens supported Ralph Nader 's candidacy, took a neutral position between George W. Bush and John Kerry in 2004 , and in 2008, his sympathies were on the side of Barack Obama .

Hitchens criticized Zionism ; he recognized the right of the state of Israel , but believed that Israel should withdraw Jewish settlements from Palestinian territories. Moreover, in his opinion, “all political factions in the USA behave disgustingly in this matter, and the Democratic Party behaves most disgustingly. This party is completely under the control of the pro-Israeli lobby. ” ^[12]

Hitchens was a supporter of the unification of Ireland and the establishment of a republic in Great Britain.

Religious

He was known as a secular humanist , a staunch atheist , antitheist and anti-clerical , as well as a critic of Islamism . Criticism of religion is devoted to one of the most famous books written by him - “ God is not love ” (lit. “God is not great”, Eng. God is not Great , 2007; Russian translation. 2012). The main object of criticism of Hitchens was, in his expression, “the three great monotheisms ” - Abrahamic religions ( Christianity , Islam and Judaism ). According to Hitchens, religion is one of the causes of fascism , Stalinism and North Korean totalitarianism ^[13] .

The Ten Commandments

On the basis of a critical analysis of the commandments of Moses, Hitchens proposed his own version of the moral code ^{[14] [15]}

1. Do not judge people based on their nationality or color.
2. Do not even think about owning other people as private property.
3. Despise those who use violence or threats in sexual relations.
4. Be ashamed and cry if you dare to offend the child.
5. Do not blame people for their innate traits (Why did God create so many homosexuals if their fate is only torment and disappearance).
6. Remember that you are also an animal, and therefore depend on the surrounding nature. Think and act accordingly.
7. Do not hope that you can avoid punishment if you do not use violence, but deceit to rob your neighbors.
8. Turn off your damn cell phone (you can’t imagine how you are all tired of your chatter).
9. Reprimand all jihadists and crusaders because they are all criminal psychopaths with disgusting prejudices and repressed sexuality .
10. Refuse any beliefs if they contradict this code (In other words: do not build your morality on tablets of stone ).

Hitchens is also known for harshly criticizing individual public figures, among whom are:

• Mel Gibson
• Henry Kissinger (in his 2001 book, The Henry Kissinger Process, he accused him of war crimes)
• Ronald Reagan 
• Bill clinton
• Mother Teresa (to whom he dedicated the 1995 book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice , accusing her organization of making money and spreading radical religious views; also criticized Mother Teresa’s anti- abortion speech)
• Dalai Lama XIV
• Cindy Sheehan 
• Bob Hope 
• Michael moore
• George Galloway (British Left Politician and Iraq War Critic)

• 1991 -
• 2007 - re (repeated in 2011 and 2012)
• 2011 - Richard Dawkins Award
• 2012 -
• 2012 - Special
• 2012 -

As sole author

• 2015 And Yet ...: Essays, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-1-4767-7206-6
• 2012 Mortality , Twelve, ISBN 1-4555-0275-8 / ISBN 978-1-4555-0275-2 . UK edition as Mortality , Atlantic Books, ISBN 1-84887-921-0 / ISBN 978-1-84887-921-8 , in Russian - “Last 100 days”
• 2011 Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens ISBN 978-1-4555-0277-6
• 2010 Hitch-22 Some Confessions and Contradictions: A Memoir . Hachette Book Group. ISBN 978-0-446-54033-9 (In Preparation, due for publication 2 June 2010)
• 2007 God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything . Twelve / Hachette Book Group USA / Warner Books, ISBN 0-446-57980-7 / Published in Great Britain under the title God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion . Atlantic Books, ISBN 978-1-84354-586-6 , in Russian - “ God is not love ”)
• 2006 Thomas Paine's “Rights of Man”: A Biography . Books That Shook the World / Atlantic Books, ISBN 1-84354-513-6
• 2005 Thomas Jefferson: Author of America . Eminent Lives / Atlas Books / HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 0-06-059896-4
• 2004 Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays . Thunder's Mouth, Nation Books, ISBN 1-56025-580-3
• 2003 A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq . Plume books
• 2002 Why Orwell Matters , Basic Books (US) / In Great Britain came out under the name Orwell's Victory , Allen Lane / The Penguin Press.
• 2001 The Trial of Henry Kissinger . Verso.
• 2001 Letters to a Young Contrarian . Basic Books .
• 2000 Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere . Verso.
• 1999 No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton . Verso. Reprinted in 2000 under the title No One Left to Lie To: The Values ​​of the Worst Family .
• 1995 The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice . Verso.
• 1993 For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports . Verso, ISBN 0-86091-435-6
• 1990 Blood, Class, and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies . Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Reissued 2004, with a new introduction entitled Blood, Class and Empire: The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship , Nation Books, ISBN 1-56025-592-7 )
• 1990 The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favorite Fetish . Chatto & Windus, 1990.
• 1988 Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports . Hill and Wang (US) / Chatto and Windus (UK).
• 1987 Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles . Chatto and Windus (UK) / Hill and Wang (US, 1988) / 1997 Verso in the UK entitled The Elgin Marbles: Should They Be Returned to Greece? .
• 1984 Cyprus . Quartet. Revised edition entitled Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger , 1989 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and 1997 (Verso).

As Editor

• 2007 The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer . Perseus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-306-81608-6

As a co-author or co-editor

• 2008 Is Christianity Good for the World? - A Debate (with Douglas Wilson). Canon Press, ISBN 1-59128-053-2 .
• 2008 Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq and the Left (with Simon Cotti and Thomas Kashman). New York University Press.
• 2005 A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq , edited by Thomas Cashman. University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24555-5
• 2002 Left Hooks, Right Crosses: A Decade of Political Writing (co-editor with Christopher Caldwell).
• 2000 Vanity Fair's Hollywood , editors Graidon Carter and David Friend. Viking Studio.
• 2000 Safe Area Goražde , Fantagraphics.
• 1994 International Territory: The United Nations, 1945-1995 (with Adam Bartos). Verso.
• 1994 When Borders Bleed: The Struggle of the Kurds (with Ed Caches). Pantheon Books.
• 1988 Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question (co-edited by Edward Said). Verso, ISBN 0-86091-887-4 . Reissued, 2001.
• 1976 Callaghan, The Road to Number Ten (with Peter Kellner). Cassell, ISBN 0-304-29768-2

• Christopher Hitchens - American Idol
• APN: Militant Atheists of the 21st Century
• Kirill Kobrin . Pure English author

Hitchens Magazine Articles

• Vanity Fair
• The Atlantic Monthly
• Build Up That Wall
• Slate