View source for Christopher Hitchens

{{Short description|British and American author and journalist (1949–2011)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| image         = Christopher Hitchens crop 2.jpg
| caption       = Hitchens in 2007
| alt           = Hitchens speaking from a lectern
| birth_name    = Christopher Eric Hitchens
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1949|4|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Portsmouth]], England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2011|12|15|1949|4|13|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[Houston]], Texas, US
| spouse        = {{Unbulleted list
| {{Marriage|Eleni Meleagrou|1981|1989|end=div}}
| {{Marriage|Carol Blue|1991}}<ref name="Woo-2011">{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |date=15 December 2011 |title=Christopher Hitchens dies at 62; engaging author and essayist |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/15/local/la-me-christopher-hitchens-20111216/2 |url-status=dead |access-date=27 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111194538/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/15/local/la-me-christopher-hitchens-20111216/2 |archive-date=11 November 2012 }}</ref>
}}
| children      = 3
| relatives     = {{Plain list|
* [[Peter Hitchens]] (brother)
}}
| alma_mater    = [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| notable_ideas = [[Hitchens's razor]]
| signature     = Christopher Hitchens signature.svg
| citizenship   = {{Unbulleted list|[[United Kingdom]]|United States (from 2007)}}
| party         = {{Ubl|[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] (1965–1967)|[[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|International Socialists]] (1967–1971)}}
}}

'''Christopher Eric Hitchens''' (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist.<ref>{{cite magazine |title='God is Not Great' author Christopher Hitchens on religion, Iraq, and his own reputation |date=26 April 2007 |magazine=[[New York Magazine]] |via=Nymag.com |url=https://nymag.com/arts/books/features/31244/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419092134/https://nymag.com/arts/books/features/31244/ |archive-date=19 April 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Author Christopher Hitchens targets God and faith |date=18 June 2007 |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-hitchens-idUSN0726901520070618 |url-status=live |access-date=19 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419093524/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-hitchens-idUSN0726901520070618 |archive-date=19 April 2023 }}</ref> He authored [[Christopher Hitchens bibliography|18 books]] on faith, [[religion]], culture, politics, and literature.

Hitchens was born and educated in Britain, graduating in 1970 from the [[University of Oxford]] with a degree in [[philosophy, politics, and economics]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 October 2025|title=Christopher Hitchens |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Hitchens |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=Britannica}}</ref> In the early 1980s, he emigrated to the United States and wrote for ''[[The Nation]]'' and ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]''. Known as one of the "[[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Four Horsemen]]" of [[New Atheism]] (along with [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Sam Harris]], and [[Daniel Dennett]]), he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. [[Hitchens's razor|His epistemological razor]], which states that "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence", is still of mark in philosophy and law.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Ratcliffe |editor-first= Susan |year=2016 |title=Oxford Essential Quotations: Facts |edition=4 |via=''Oxford Reference'' (oxfordreference.com) |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191826719 |quote=What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00004248 |url-status=live |access-date=4 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926013021/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00004248 |archive-date=26 September 2019 }}</ref> [[Political views of Christopher Hitchens|Hitchens's political views]] evolved greatly throughout his life.{{efn|After the September&nbsp;11 attacks of 2001, Hitchens was widely perceived as having migrated to the right on the political spectrum, actively campaigning for the invasion of Iraq and deposal of Saddam Hussein and endorsing George W. Bush in the 2004 US presidential election. Hitchens dropped his column for [[The Nation (magazine)|''The Nation'']] in 2002. He maintained that the shifts in his political allegiances were motivated by the right's stronger and more-interventionist stance against what he deemed 'fascism with an Islamic face'.<ref name=Pallardy-2022/>
}}<ref name="Pallardy-2022">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pallardy |first=Richard |date=9 April 2022|title=Christopher Hitchens |series=Biography |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Hitchens |url-status=live |access-date=23 November 2022 |lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123140826/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Hitchens |archive-date=23 November 2022 }}</ref> Originally describing himself as a [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]],<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Christopher Hitchens |series=[[Charlie Rose (talk show)|Charlie Rose]] |medium=interview video |url=https://charlierose.com/videos/5386|access-date=3 October 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003142014/https://charlierose.com/videos/5386 |archive-date=3 October 2021 }}</ref> he was a member of various socialist organisations in his early life, including the [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] [[International Socialists (UK)|International Socialists]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seymour |first=Richard |date=27 March 2012 |title=The late Christopher Hitchens |journal=[[International Socialism (magazine)|International Socialism]] |issue=134 |url=http://isj.org.uk/the-late-christopher-hitchens/ |url-status=live |access-date=25 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120052603/http://isj.org.uk/the-late-christopher-hitchens/ |archive-date=20 November 2019 }}</ref>

Hitchens was [[criticism of United States foreign policy|critical of aspects of American foreign policy]], including its involvement in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|Chile]], and [[East Timor genocide|East Timor]]. However, he supported the United States in the [[Kosovo War]]. Hitchens emphasised the centrality of the [[American Revolution]] and [[US Constitution|Constitution]] to his political philosophy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |year=2002 |title=Why Orwell Matters |title-link=Why Orwell Matters |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |page=105 }}</ref> He held [[Abortion debate|complex views on abortion]]: being ethically opposed to it in most instances, and believing that a [[foetus]] was entitled to [[personhood]]; while holding ambiguous, changing views [[Abortion law|on its legality]].<ref name=Hitchens-2019>{{cite magazine |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher|date=5 December 2019|title=A left-wing atheist's case against abortion |magazine=[[Crisis Magazine]] |publisher=[[Sophia Institute Press]] |url=https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/a-left-wing-atheists-case-against-abortion |url-status=live |access-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126160401/https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/a-left-wing-atheists-case-against-abortion |archive-date=26 November 2022 }}</ref> He supported [[Right to keep and bear arms|gun rights]] and supported [[same-sex marriage]], while opposing the [[war on drugs]].{{efn|
I asked him if he'd be up for writing a column on gun control. He told me that he'd love to. But he wanted to let me know up front that he was opposed to controls.<ref name=Carter-2021/>
}}<ref name=Carter-2021>{{cite magazine |last=Carter |first=Graydon |date=17 December 2021 |title=Christopher Hitchens was fearless |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/christopher-hitchens-was-fearless/621020/ |url-status=live |access-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207230915/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/christopher-hitchens-was-fearless/621020/ |archive-date=7 December 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|date=12 October 2009|title=Legalize it|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/12/legalize-it/|access-date=26 November 2022|website=Foreign Policy|archive-date=26 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126161852/https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/12/legalize-it/|url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning in the 1990s, and particularly after [[September 11 attacks|9/11]], his politics were widely viewed as drifting to [[Right wing politics|the right]], but Hitchens objected to being called 'conservative'.<ref name="Pallardy-2022"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Anthony |first=Andrew |date=17 September 2005 |title=The big showdown |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |place=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/sep/18/otherparties.iraq |url-status=live |access-date=2023-02-28|issn=0029-7712 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228085821/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/sep/18/otherparties.iraq |archive-date=28 February 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Why Christopher Hitchens still matters |date=13 December 2021 |magazine=[[Areo Magazine]] |url=https://areomagazine.com/2021/12/13/why-christopher-hitchens-still-matters/ |url-status=live |access-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126161853/https://areomagazine.com/2021/12/13/why-christopher-hitchens-still-matters/ |archive-date=26 November 2022 }}</ref> During the 2000s, he argued for the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasions of Iraq]] and [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]], endorsed [[George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign|the re-election campaign]] of [[President of the United States|US President]] [[George W. Bush]] in [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]], and viewed [[Islamism]] as the principal threat to the [[Western world]].<ref name="Parker-2006a">{{cite magazine|last=Parker|first=Ian|date=16 October 2006|title=He Knew He Was Right: How a former socialist became the Iraq war's fiercest defender.|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/16/he-knew-he-was-right-2|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|access-date=23 November 2022|archive-date=6 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140406220226/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|date=31 October 2004|title=Christopher Hitchens: Why I'm voting for Bush (but only just)|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/31/uselections2004.comment2|access-date=23 November 2022|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en|archive-date=23 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123123332/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/31/uselections2004.comment2|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens described himself as an [[Antitheism|antitheist]] and saw all religions as false, harmful, and [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]].{{efn|
I am [not a] part of the generalised agnosticism of our culture. I am not even an atheist so much as I am an anti-theist ... all religions are versions of the same untruth ... the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful ... cradle-to-grave divine supervision; a permanent surveillance and monitoring ... I am [not] privy to the secrets of the universe or its creator ... even [the best of the theisms] are complicit in this quiet and irrational authoritarianism.<ref name=Hitchens-2005-LtaYC/>
}}<ref name=Hitchens-2005-LtaYC>{{cite book|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|year=2005|title=Letters to a Young Contrarian |publisher=Basic Books |pages=55, 57 |isbn=0465030335 }}</ref> He endorsed [[free expression]], [[scientific scepticism]], and [[separation of church and state]], arguing [[science]] and [[philosophy]] are superior to [[religion]] as an [[ethics|ethical code of conduct]] for human civilisation.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nautil.us/why-christopher-hitchens-was-a-hero-to-scientists-236302 | title=Why Christopher Hitchens Was a Hero to Scientists | date=15 December 2016 }}</ref> Hitchens notably wrote critical biographies of Catholic nun [[Mother Teresa]] in [[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice|''The Missionary Position'']], [[Bill Clinton]] in ''[[No One Left to Lie To]]'', and American diplomat [[Henry Kissinger]] in ''[[The Trial of Henry Kissinger]]''. Hitchens died from complications related to [[esophageal cancer|oesophageal cancer]] in December 2011, at the age of 62.<ref name="Video 1995">{{YouTube|RrK-8Pvs0Vs|Video: Christopher Hitchens (14 August 1995) appearance on C-SPAN}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Hitchens was born in [[Portsmouth]], [[Hampshire]], the elder of two boys; his brother, [[Peter Hitchens|Peter]], became a [[Social conservatism|socially conservative]] journalist.<ref name=Wilby-2011/> Their parents, Commander Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987) and Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973), met in Scotland when serving in the [[Royal Navy]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="Hitchens-2010"/> His mother had been a Wren, a member of the [[Women's Royal Naval Service]].<ref name="Walsh-2010">{{cite news|first=John|last=Walsh|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/hitch22-a-memoir-by-christopher-hitchens-1984845.html|title=Hitch-22: a memoir by Christopher Hitchens|date=27 May 2010|access-date=28 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530030603/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/hitch22-a-memoir-by-christopher-hitchens-1984845.html|archive-date=30 May 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> She was of [[Jewish]] origin, something that Hitchens discovered when he was 38; he thus came to identify as a Jew.<ref name="Gordon-2007">{{cite web|first=Meryl|last=Gordon|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/868/|title=The Boy Can't Help It|work=NYMag.com|date=8 May 2007|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001172127/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/868/|archive-date=1 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Tracy-2011">{{cite web|first=Marc|last=Tracy|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/the-tenth-man-2|title=The Tenth Man|work=Tablet Magazine|date=19 December 2011|access-date=18 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528063356/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/86541/the-tenth-man-2|archive-date=28 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Barber-2002a">{{cite news|first=Lynn|last=Barber|author-link=Lynn Barber|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/14/politics|title=Look who's talking|work=The Observer|date=14 April 2002|access-date=1 June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231024108/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,683899,00.html|archive-date=31 December 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens often referred to his father simply as 'the Commander'. Eric Hitchens was deployed on {{HMS|Jamaica|44|6}}, which took part in the sinking of the {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2|up=yes}} in the [[Battle of the North Cape]] on 26 December 1943. He paid tribute to his father's contribution to the war: "Sending a Nazi convoy-raider to the bottom is a better day's work than any I have ever done." Eric's naval career required the family to move from base to base throughout Britain and its colonies; including to [[Malta]], where Peter Hitchens was born in [[Sliema]] in 1951.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/14656/hitchens-death-and-the-malta-connection|title=Hitchens, death and the Malta connection|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403092229/https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/14656/hitchens-death-and-the-malta-connection|archive-date=3 April 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Eric later worked as a bookkeeper for boatbuilders, speedboat manufacturers, and a prep school.<ref name="Hitchens-2010">{{cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/features/2010/hitch22/the_commander_my_father_eric_hitchens.html|title=The Commander: My Father, Eric Hitchens|publisher=Slate.com|date=2 June 2010|access-date=14 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415061656/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/features/2010/hitch22/the_commander_my_father_eric_hitchens.html|archive-date=15 April 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Yglesias|first=Matthew|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2255781/entry/2255782|title=The Commander: My Father, Eric Hitchens|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=20 October 2003|access-date=16 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816133539/http://www.slate.com/id/2255781/entry/2255782/|archive-date=16 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens attended two private schools—[[Mount House School, Tavistock|Mount House School]], [[Tavistock, Devon|Tavistock]], Devon, from the age of eight, and the [[The Leys School|Leys School]] in [[Cambridge]].<ref name=Barber-2002/> Hitchens went up to [[Balliol College, Oxford]], in 1967 where he read [[philosophy, politics and economics]] and was tutored by [[Steven Lukes]] and [[Anthony Kenny]]. He graduated in 1970 with a [[third-class degree]].<ref name="Wilby-2011"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-16214335|title=Obituary: Christopher Hitchens|publisher=BBC|date=16 December 2011|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727185452/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-16214335|archive-date=27 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In his adolescence, he was "bowled over" by [[Richard Llewellyn]]'s ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]'', [[Arthur Koestler]]'s ''[[Darkness at Noon]],'' [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'', [[R. H. Tawney]]'s critique on ''Religion and the Rise of Capitalism'', and the works of [[George Orwell]].<ref name="Walsh-2010"/> In 1968, he took part in the TV quiz-show ''[[University Challenge]]''.{{efn|
What she [Yvonne] wanted was to see me represent [[Balliol College|Balliol]] on the [[University Challenge]] team, where I did actually make my first-ever television appearance.<ref name=Hitchens-2010-H22/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}}
}}<ref name=Hitchens-2010-H22>{{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |date=May 2010 |title=[[Hitch-22]] |publisher=Atlantic Books |isbn=978-0-446-54033-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Blake|last=Morrison|author-link=Blake Morrison|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/29/hitch-22-christopher-hitchens-review|title=I contain multitudes|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=29 May 2010|access-date=16 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306044618/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/29/hitch-22-christopher-hitchens-review|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1960s, Hitchens joined the political left; drawn by disagreement over the [[Vietnam War]], nuclear weapons, racism, and oligarchy, including that of "the unaccountable corporation".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Christopher Hitchens and His Critics : Terror, Iraq, and the Left|publisher=New York University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0814716861|editor-last=Cottee|editor-first=Simon|editor-link=Simon Cottee|location=New York, London|page=168|oclc=183392372|editor-last2=Cushman|editor-first2=Thomas}}</ref> He expressed affinity with the politically charged counter-cultural and protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He avoided the recreational drug-use of the time, saying "in my cohort we were slightly anti-hedonistic&nbsp;... it made it very much easier for police provocation to occur, because the planting of drugs was something that happened to almost everyone one knew."<ref name="Robinson-2007">{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Robinson|url=http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/3420306.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915092414/http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/3420306.html|archive-date=15 September 2007|publisher=Hoover Institution|title=You said you wanted a revolution: 1968 and the Counter-Counterculture (Peter Robinson interview with William Buckley Jr and Christopher Hitchens)|date=15 September 2007|access-date=12 October 2012}}</ref> Hitchens was inspired to become a journalist after reading a piece by [[James Cameron (journalist)|James Cameron]].<ref name=Barber-2002>{{cite news|last=Barber|first=Lynn|author-link=Lynn Barber|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/14/politics|title=Look who's talking|work=The Observer|date=14 April 2002|access-date=30 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410124847/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/14/politics|archive-date=10 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens was [[bisexuality|bisexual]] during his younger days; and joked that, as he aged, his appearance "declined to the point where only women would go to bed with [him]".<ref name="Aitkenhead-2010">{{cite web|first=Decca|last=Aitkenhead|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/22/christopher-hitchens-decca-aitkenhead|publisher=The Guardian|title=Christopher Hitchens: 'I was right and they were wrong'|work=Decca Aitkenhead|date=21 May 2010|access-date=26 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624142037/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/22/christopher-hitchens-decca-aitkenhead|archive-date=24 June 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> He said he had sexual relations with two male students at Oxford who would later become government ministers during the [[premiership of Margaret Thatcher]], although he would not reveal their names publicly.<ref name="Aitkenhead-2010"/>

Hitchens joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in 1965, but<!--The following is a cited quote from one of Hitchens's own articles; please do not cut or qualify the word "contemptible". --> along with the majority of the [[Labour Students|Labour students' organisation]] was expelled in 1967, because of what Hitchens called "Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]]'s contemptible support for the war in Vietnam".<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2117328/|title=Long Live Labor – Why I'm for Tony Blair|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=25 April 2005|access-date=16 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831133955/http://www.slate.com/id/2117328/|archive-date=31 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Under the influence of [[Peter Sedgwick]], who translated the writings of the Russian revolutionary and Soviet dissident [[Victor Serge]], Hitchens forged an ideological interest in [[Trotskyism]] and [[Anti-Stalinist left|anti-Stalinist]] socialism.<ref name="Walsh-2010"/> Shortly after, he joined "a small but growing post-Trotskyist [[Luxemburgism|Luxemburgist]] sect", the [[International Socialists (UK)|International Socialists]].<ref name="Hithens-2005">{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Hithens|url=https://www.pbs.org/heavenonearth/interviews_hitchens.html|title=Heaven on Earth – Interview with Christopher Hitchens|publisher=PBS|date=1 January 2005|access-date=1 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060612210516/http://www.pbs.org/heavenonearth/interviews_hitchens.html|archive-date=12 June 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilby|first=Peter|date=1 September 2017|title=Hitchens, Christopher Eric (1949–2011)|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/|access-date=7 December 2023|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|archive-date=26 September 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040926035703/http://www.oxforddnb.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchens recruited [[James Fenton]] to the International Socialists.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|title=Hitch-22: A Memoir|publisher=Atlantic Books|year=2010|isbn=9781838952334|location=London|pages=144}}</ref>

==Career==

===Journalistic career in the UK (1971–1981)===
Early in his career Hitchens began working as a correspondent for the magazine ''[[International Socialism (magazine)|International Socialism]]'',<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1972/no051/hitchens2.htm|title=International Socialism: Christopher Hitchens "Workers' Self Management in Algeria" (1st series)|issue=51, April–June 1972|page=33|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Trotskyism|date=1 April 1972|access-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716033112/https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1972/no051/hitchens2.htm|archive-date=16 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> published by the International Socialists, the forerunners of today's British [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]]. This group was broadly Trotskyist, but differed from more orthodox Trotskyist groups in its refusal to defend communist states as "workers' states". Their slogan was "Neither Washington nor Moscow but International Socialism".

In 1971 after spending a year travelling the United States on a scholarship, Hitchens went to work at the ''[[Times Higher Education|Times Higher Education Supplement]]'' where he served as a social science correspondent.<ref name="Farndale-2010">{{cite news|last=Farndale|first=Nigel|title=An audience with Christopher Hitchens|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7778346/An-audience-with-Christopher-Hitchens.html|access-date=25 September 2019|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925125238/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7778346/An-audience-with-Christopher-Hitchens.html|archive-date=25 September 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchens was fired after six months in the job.<ref name="Farndale-2010"/> Next he was a researcher for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]'s ''[[Weekend World]]''.<ref name="Eaton-2012">{{cite web|last=Eaton|first=George|author-link=George Eaton (journalist)|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/magazines/2012/01/hitchens-write-editor-fenton|title=Christopher Hitchens: the New Statesman years|work=The New Statesman|date=2 January 2012|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423171507/http://www.newstatesman.com/magazines/2012/01/hitchens-write-editor-fenton|archive-date=23 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1973 Hitchens went to work for the ''[[New Statesman]]'', where his colleagues included the authors [[Martin Amis]], whom he had briefly met at Oxford, as well as [[Julian Barnes]] and [[James Fenton]], with whom he had shared a house in Oxford.<ref name="Eaton-2012"/> Amis described him at the time as, "handsome, festive [and] gauntly left-wing".<ref name="Amis-2010">{{cite book|last=Amis|first=Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biWjc8p2pzcC|title=Experience|publisher=Random House|year=2010|isbn=978-1446401453|page=26|author-link=Martin Amis|access-date=28 May 2020|archive-date=20 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420103810/https://books.google.com/books?id=biWjc8p2pzcC|url-status=live}}</ref> Around that time, the Friday lunches began, which were attended by writers including [[Clive James]], [[Ian McEwan]], [[Kingsley Amis]], [[Terence Kilmartin]], [[Robert Conquest]], [[Al Alvarez]], [[Peter Porter (poet)|Peter Porter]], [[Russell Davies]], and [[Mark Boxer]]. At the ''New Statesman'' Hitchens acquired a reputation as a left-winger while working as a [[war correspondent]] from areas of conflict such as Northern Ireland, Libya, and Iraq.<ref name="Eaton-2012"/>

In November 1973, while in Greece, Hitchens reported on the constitutional crisis of the [[Greek military junta of 1967–74|military junta]]. It became his first leading article for the ''New Statesman''.<ref name=Barber-2002/> In December 1977 Hitchens interviewed Argentine dictator [[Jorge Rafael Videla]], a conversation he later described as "horrifying".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/12/hitchens200412|title=Kissinger Declassified|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=17 October 2006|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419154714/http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/12/hitchens200412|archive-date=19 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1977, unhappy at the ''New Statesman'', Hitchens moved to the ''[[Daily Express]]'', where he became a foreign correspondent. He returned to the ''New Statesman'' in 1978 where he became assistant editor and then foreign editor.<ref name="Eaton-2012"/>

===American writings (1981–2011)===
[[File:Christopher Hitchens, ATF Party 2005.JPG|thumb|Hitchens in 2005]]

Hitchens went to the United States in 1981 as part of an editor exchange programme between the ''[[New Statesman]]'' and ''[[The Nation]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/165318/remembering-hitchens|title=Remembering Hitchens|first=Victor|last=Navasky|author-link=Victor Navasky|work=[[The Nation]]|date=21 December 2011|access-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315045246/http://www.thenation.com/article/165318/remembering-hitchens|archive-date=15 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> After joining ''The Nation'', he penned vociferous critiques of [[Ronald Reagan]], [[George H. W. Bush]] and American foreign policy in South and Central America.<ref name="Gordon-2007"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/51559-1/Christopher+Hitchens.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117155612/http://booknotes.org/Watch/51559-1/Christopher%2BHitchens.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 November 2010|title=For the Sake of Argument by Christopher Hitchens|first=Brian|last=Lamb|author-link=Brian Lamb|date=17 October 1993|access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="Southan-2001">{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/free-radical|title=Free Radical|last=Southan|first=Rhys|work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]|date=November 2001|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324224737/https://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/free-radical|archive-date=24 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/christopher-hitchens/|title=Christopher Hitchens|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=1 January 2003|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506021625/https://www.theatlantic.com/author/christopher-hitchens/|archive-date=6 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Raz-2006">{{cite web|first=Guy|last=Raz|author-link=Guy Raz|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5498172|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101010101/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5498172|title=Christopher Hitchens, Literary Agent Provocateur|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|date=21 June 2006|access-date=10 June 2008|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="Parker-2006">{{cite magazine|magazine=The New Yorker|title=He Knew He Was Right|first=Ian|last=Parker|date=16 October 2006|access-date=10 June 2007|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407065449/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all|archive-date=7 April 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens became a contributing editor of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1992,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/christopher-hitchens|title=Christopher Hitchens&nbsp;– Contributing Editor|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=23 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222152010/http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/christopher-hitchens|archive-date=22 December 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> writing ten columns a year. He left ''The Nation'' in 2002 after profoundly disagreeing with other contributors over the Iraq War.<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taking-sides/ Taking Sides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701140230/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taking-sides/|date=1 July 2022}}, ''[[The Nation]]'', Christopher Hitchens, 26 September 2002. Retrieved 22 May 2022.</ref>

There is speculation that Hitchens was the inspiration for [[Tom Wolfe]]'s character Peter Fallow in the 1987 novel ''[[The Bonfire of the Vanities]]'',<ref name="Southan-2001"/> but others—including Hitchens—believe it to be ''[[Spy Magazine]]''{{'}}s "Ironman Nightlife Decathlete", [[Anthony Haden-Guest]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Timothy|last=Noah|author-link=Timothy Noah|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2002/01/meritocracys_lab_rat.html|title=Meritocracy's lab rat|work=Slate|date=9 January 2002|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806025424/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2002/01/meritocracys_lab_rat.html|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1987, Hitchens's father died of [[esophageal cancer|cancer of the oesophagus]], the same disease that would later claim his own life.<ref name="Hitchens-2010a">{{cite magazine |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |date=1 September 2010 |title=Topic of Cancer |magazine=[[Vanity Fair magazine|Vanity Fair]] |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009 |access-date=8 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217040857/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009%23 |archive-date=17 December 2011 }}</ref> In April&nbsp;2007, Hitchens became a US citizen; he later stated that he saw himself as ''Anglo-American''.{{efn|
;[[Julian Morrow]]: "How do you identify yourself now?"
;Christopher Hitchens: "Anglo-American. I mean I didn't move to the United States until I was about 30, so it would be silly to say I'd left everything behind."
;Audience member: "If you had to give up one, which passport would it be? The British or the American?"
;Christopher Hitchens: "That's a waste of a question."
;Audience member: [embarrassed groan]
;Christopher Hitchens: [adamantly] "Anglo-American"<ref name=Hitchens-2010-06-07-ABC/>
}}<ref name=Hitchens-2010-06-07-ABC>{{cite AV media |title=Christopher Hitchens: "Hitch-22" |date=7 June 2010 |medium=interview video |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |series=Sydney Writer's Festival |place=Sydney, AU |people=[[Julian Morrow|Morrow, Julian]] (producer, interviewer) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXwKk-9YNA |url-status=live |access-date=6 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207235247/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXwKk-9YNA |archive-date=7 December 2016 }}</ref>

He became a media fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]] in September 2008.<ref>{{cite web |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |title=Christopher Hitchens on Sarah Palin: 'A disgraceful opportunist and moral doward'|publisher=PoliticalArticles.NET |date=18 December 2009 |url=http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2009/12/18/christopher-hitchens-on-sarah-palin-a-disgraceful-opportunist-and-moral-coward/ |url-status=dead |access-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514004329/http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2009/12/18/christopher-hitchens-on-sarah-palin-a-disgraceful-opportunist-and-moral-coward/ |archive-date=14 May 2011 }}</ref> At ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', he usually wrote under the news-and-politics column ''Fighting Words''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fighting Words |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words.html |url-status=live |access-date=21 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401131328/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words.html |archive-date=1 April 2016 }}</ref>

Hitchens spent part of his early career in journalism as a foreign correspondent in [[Cyprus]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Heather|last=Christie|url=http://www.shedoesthecity.com/at_the_rom_three_new_commandments|title=At the ROM: Three New Commandments|website=She Does The City|date=30 April 2009|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024540/http://www.shedoesthecity.com/at_the_rom_three_new_commandments|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Through his work there he met his first wife, Eleni Meleagrou, a [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]], with whom he had two children, Alexander and Sophia. His son, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, born in 1984, has worked as a policy researcher in London. Hitchens continued writing essay-style correspondence pieces from a variety of locales, including [[Chad]], [[Uganda]],<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601|title=Childhood's End|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=September 2006|access-date=1 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412232442/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601|archive-date=12 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Darfur]] region of [[Sudan]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2129657/|title=Realism in Sudan|work=Slate|date=7 November 2005|access-date=1 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826222014/http://www.slate.com/id/2129657/|archive-date=26 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991, he received a [[Lannan Literary Awards#Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction|Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lannan.org/lf/bios/detail/christopher-hitchens/|title=Detailed Biographical Information – Christopher Hitchens|access-date=27 April 2010|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041114040751/http://www.lannan.org/lf/bios/detail/christopher-hitchens/|archive-date=14 November 2004|publisher= Lannan Foundation}}</ref>

Hitchens met Carol Blue in Los Angeles in 1989 and they married in 1991. Hitchens called it love at first sight.<ref>{{cite web|first=Carol|last=Blue|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/an-afterword-to-the-life-of-christopher-hitchens-v2/4305582|title=An afterword to the life of Christopher Hitchens – Late Night Live – ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)|work=Radio National|date=15 October 2012|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007090735/http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/an-afterword-to-the-life-of-christopher-hitchens-v2/4305582|archive-date=7 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1999, Hitchens and Blue, both harsh critics of [[Bill Clinton]], submitted an affidavit to the trial managers of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in the [[impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment of Clinton]]. Therein they swore that their then-friend [[Sidney Blumenthal]] had described [[Monica Lewinsky]] as a stalker. This allegation contradicted Blumenthal's own sworn deposition in the trial,<ref name="Marshall-1999">{{cite web|first=Joshua Micah|last=Marshall|author-link=Josh Marshall|url=http://www.salon.com/1999/02/09/newsa_35/|title=Salon Newsreal &#124; Stalking Sidney Blumenthal|website=Salon.com|date=9 February 1999|access-date=26 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107093012/http://www.salon.com/1999/02/09/newsa_35/|archive-date=7 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and it resulted in a hostile exchange of opinion in the public sphere between Hitchens and Blumenthal. Following the publication of Blumenthal's ''The Clinton Wars,'' Hitchens wrote several pieces in which he accused Blumenthal of manipulating the facts.<ref name="Marshall-1999"/><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/07/hitchens.htm|title=Thinking Like an Apparatchik|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|journal=[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]]|date=July–August 2003|access-date=26 April 2011|volume=292|issue=1|pages=129–42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217143959/https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/07/hitchens.htm|archive-date=17 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The incident ended their friendship and sparked a personal crisis for Hitchens, who was stridently criticised by friends for what they saw as a cynical and ultimately politically futile act.<ref name="Gordon-2007"/>

Before Hitchens's political shift, the American author and polemicist [[Gore Vidal]] spoke of Hitchens as his "[[Dauphin of France|dauphin]]" or "heir".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/letters.htm|title=Hitchens on Books|access-date=17 February 2009|first=Andrew|last=Werth|date=January–February 2004|work=[[The Atlantic]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626141928/http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/letters.htm|archive-date=26 June 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://osdir.com/ml/politics.leftists.monkeyfist/2001-04/msg00016.html|title=Gore should be so lucky|access-date=17 February 2009|first=John|last=Banville|date=3 March 2001|newspaper=The Irish Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106195116/http://osdir.com/ml/politics.leftists.monkeyfist/2001-04/msg00016.html|archive-date=6 January 2009}}</ref> In 2010 Hitchens attacked Vidal in a ''Vanity Fair'' piece headlined "Vidal Loco", calling him a "crackpot" for his adoption of [[9/11 conspiracy theories]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/02/hitchens-201002|title=Vidal Loco|access-date=24 June 2010|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|date=February 2010|magazine=Vanity Fair|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528034636/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/02/hitchens-201002|archive-date=28 May 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html|title=Hitchens attacks Gore Vidal for being a 'crackpot'|access-date=17 February 2009|date=7 February 2010|work=The Independent|location=London|first=Kate|last=Youde|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210175549/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html|archive-date=10 February 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> On the back of Hitchens's memoir ''Hitch-22,'' among the praise from notable figures, Vidal's endorsement of Hitchens as his successor is crossed out in red and annotated "NO, C.H." Hitchens's strong advocacy of the war in Iraq gained him a wider readership, and in September 2005 he was named as fifth on the list of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' and ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]'' magazines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2005/10/15/prospectfp-top-100-public-intellectuals-results/|publisher=The Foreign Policy Group|title=Top 100 Public Intellectuals Results|date=15 May 2008|access-date=1 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611230220/http://foreignpolicy.com/2005/10/15/prospectfp-top-100-public-intellectuals-results/|archive-date=11 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> An online poll ranked the 100 intellectuals, but the magazines noted that the rankings of Hitchens (5), [[Noam Chomsky]] (1), and [[Abdolkarim Soroush]] (15) were partly due to their respective supporters' publicising of the vote. Hitchens later responded to his ranking with a few articles about his status as such.<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/what-is-a-public-intellectual|title=How to be a public intellectual|work=Prospect|date=24 May 2008|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221154018/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/what-is-a-public-intellectual|archive-date=21 February 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/07/the-plight-of-the-public-intellectual/|title=The Plight of the Public Intellectual|work=Foreign Policy|date=7 October 2009|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508054804/http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/07/the-plight-of-the-public-intellectual/|archive-date=8 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens did not leave his position writing for ''The Nation'' until after the [[September 11 attacks]], stating that he felt the magazine had arrived at a position "that [[John Ashcroft]] is a greater menace than [[Osama bin Laden]]".<ref name="Chomsky-2001">{{cite news|first=Noam|last=Chomsky|author-link=Noam Chomsky|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/reply-hitchenss-rejoinder|title=Reply to Hitchens's Rejoinder|work=The Nation|date=15 October 2001|access-date=1 June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614060958/http://www.thenation.com/article/reply-hitchenss-rejoinder|archive-date=14 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> The September 11 attacks "exhilarated" him, bringing into focus "a battle between everything I love and everything I hate" and strengthening his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy that challenged "[[Islamofascism|fascism with an Islamic face]]".<ref name="Parker-2006"/> His numerous editorials in support of the [[Iraq War]] caused some to label him a [[Neoconservatism|neoconservative]], although Hitchens insisted he was not "a conservative of any kind", and his friend [[Ian McEwan]] described him as representing the anti-totalitarian left.<ref name="Eaton-2010">{{cite web|last=Eaton|first=George|author-link=George Eaton (journalist)|work=The New Statesman|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/07/conservative-course-presidency|title=Interview: Christopher Hitchens|date=12 July 2010|access-date=7 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101021515/http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/07/conservative-course-presidency|archive-date=1 January 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens recalls in his memoir having been "invited by [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] to write an essay on political reconsiderations for his magazine ''{{ill|La Règle du jeu (magazine)|lt=La Règle du jeu|fr|La Règle du jeu (revue)}}''. I gave it the partly ironic title: 'Can One Be a Neoconservative?' Impatient with this, some copy editor put it on the cover as 'How I Became a Neoconservative.' Perhaps this was an instance of the [[Cogito, ergo sum|Cartesian principle]] as opposed to the English empiricist one: It was decided that I evidently was what I apparently only thought." Indeed, in a 2010 BBC interview, he stated that he "still [thought] like a Marxist" and considered himself "a leftist".<ref>{{cite web|first=Jeremy|last=Paxman|author-link=Jeremy Paxman|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-s9AyNQyCw|title=Paxman meets Hitchens|date=10 August 2010|publisher=Two|work=BBC newsnight|access-date=12 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615232121/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-s9AyNQyCw|archive-date=15 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2007, Hitchens published one of his most controversial articles titled "Why Women Aren't Funny" in ''Vanity Fair''. While providing no empirical evidence, he argued that there is less societal pressure for women to practice humour and that "women who do it play by men's rules".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701|title=Why Women Aren't Funny|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=January 2007|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322164803/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Over the following year, ''Vanity Fair'' published several letters that it received, objecting to the tone or premise of the article, as well as a rebuttal by [[Alessandra Stanley]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/funnygirls200804|title=Who Says Women Aren't Funny?|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=3 March 2008|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614073208/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/funnygirls200804|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Amid further criticism, Hitchens reiterated his position in a video and written response.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA|title=Christopher Hitchens: Why Women Still Aren't Funny {{!}} Vanity Fair|website=YouTube|date=3 March 2008|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118092805/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA|archive-date=18 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2008/04/hitchens200804|title=Why Women Still Don't Get It|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=3 March 2008|access-date=4 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614080320/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2008/04/hitchens200804|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2007 Hitchens's work for ''Vanity Fair'' won the [[National Magazine Award]] in the category "Columns and Commentary".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/ASME/ABOUT_ASME/ASME_PRESS_RELEASES/22246.aspx|title=2007 National Magazine Award Winners Announced|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|date=1 May 2007|access-date=1 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114030507/http://www.magazine.org/ASME/ABOUT_ASME/ASME_PRESS_RELEASES/22246.aspx|archive-date=14 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He was a finalist in the same category in 2008 for some of his columns in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' but lost out to [[Matt Taibbi]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/ASME/MAGAZINE_AWARDS/NMA_WINNERS/index.aspx|title=National Magazine Awards Winners and Finalists|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|date=16 December 2008|access-date=1 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728065940/http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|archive-date=28 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Hitch-22'' was short-listed for the 2010 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for Autobiography. He won the National Magazine Award for Columns about Cancer in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/christopher-hitchens-wins-national-magazine-award-for-columns-about-cancer.html|title=Christopher Hitchens Wins National Magazine Award for Columns About Cancer|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=10 May 2011|access-date=16 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805102119/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/christopher-hitchens-wins-national-magazine-award-for-columns-about-cancer.html|archive-date=5 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=2011 National Magazine Awards Winners and Finalists|url=http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|date=9 May 2011|access-date=1 June 2011|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701221749/http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|archive-date=1 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hitchens also served on the advisory board of [[Secular Coalition for America]] and offered advice to the Coalition on the acceptance and inclusion of nontheism in American life.<ref name="SCfA">{{cite web|url=http://www.secular.org/bios/Christopher_Hitchens.html|title=Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography|publisher=Secular.org|access-date=20 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103015717/http://www.secular.org/bios/Christopher_Hitchens.html|archive-date=3 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2011, prior to his death, [[Asteroid]] [[57901 Hitchens]] was named after him.<ref>{{cite news|last=Weiner|first=Juli|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/Asteroid-Named-for-Christopher-Hitchens|title=Asteroid Named for Christopher Hitchens|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=6 December 2011|access-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407001700/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/Asteroid-Named-for-Christopher-Hitchens|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Literature reviews===
Hitchens wrote a monthly essay in ''[[The Atlantic]]'' magazine<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/by/christopher_hitchens|title=Authors – Christopher Hitchens|work=[[The Atlantic]]|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514153412/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/by/christopher_hitchens|archive-date=14 May 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> and occasionally contributed to other literary journals. One of his books, ''Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere'', collected these works. In ''Why Orwell Matters'', he defends Orwell's writings against modern critics as relevant today and progressive for his time. In the 2008 book ''Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left'', many literary critiques are included of essays and other books of writers, such as [[David Horowitz]] and [[Edward Said]].

During a three-hour ''[[In Depth]]'' interview on [[Book TV]], he named authors who influenced his views, including [[Aldous Huxley]], [[George Orwell]], [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[Kingsley Amis]], [[P. G. Wodehouse]] and [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]].{{efn|
"I don't know where to begin as to say which was the most influential author. I can remember the dystopian writers of [[Aldous Huxley]] ... [[Arthur Koestler]] ... [on-screen list as follows] [[George Eliot]], [[George Orwell]], [[Martin Amis]], [[Ian McEwan]], [[Salman Rushdie]], [[Colm Tóibín]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Richard Dawkins]], [[P. G. Woodhouse]], [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[Paul Scott (novelist)|Paul Scott]], [[James Fenton]], [[James Joyce]], [and Hitchens mentions] [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]]'s .'Writers and Politics'. I read in 1967 ... I remember thinking very, very distinctly that, I'd like to be able to write like that and on topics of that sort."<ref name="Christopher Hitchens In Depth">{{cite episode |title=In Depth with Christopher Hitchens |series=BookTV |network=[[C-SPAN]] |airdate=28 August 2007|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1/depth-christopher-hitchens|access-date=23 April 2016|time=1:13:03–1:13:59 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405101804/http://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1%2Fdepth-christopher-hitchens|archive-date=5 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}{{efn|
"I think there are certain authors of whom one should have all of their books ... [[George Orwell]], most of [[Marcel Proust]], most of James Joyce, not all of [[P. G. Woodhouse]] ... [[Karl Marx]], [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Vladimir Nabokov]] ... [[Salman Rushdie]], [[Martin Amis|Martin]] and [[Kingsley Amis]], [[Ian McEwan]]."<ref>{{Cite episode|title=In Depth with Christopher Hitchens|series=BookTV|network=C-SPAN|airdate=28 August 2007|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1/depth-christopher-hitchens|access-date=22 June 2019|time=1:36:00–1:37:00
|quote=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923235429/https://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1%2Fdepth-christopher-hitchens|archive-date=23 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}<ref>{{Cite episode |title=In Depth with Christopher Hitchens |series=BookTV |network=[[C-SPAN]] |airdate=28 August 2007 |time=1:38:54–1:39:12 |quote=[On screen] People who have inspired Christopher Hitchens: [[Richard Llewellyn]], [[Arthur Koestler]], [[Albert Camus]], [[George Orwell]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Wilfred Owen]] |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1/depth-christopher-hitchens |url-status=live |access-date=22 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923235429/https://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1%2Fdepth-christopher-hitchens |archive-date=23 September 2018 }}</ref>

He once remarked on the adage "everyone has a book inside of them" that this is "exactly where I think it should, in most cases, remain".<ref>{{Cite magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212094703/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/life-stories-narrative-psychology-redemption-mental-health/400796/ |archive-date=12 December 2015|last=Beck |first=Julie |date=10 August 2015 |title=The Story of Your Life |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/life-stories-narrative-psychology-redemption-mental-health/400796/ |access-date=28 March 2025 |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] }}</ref>

===Professorships===
Hitchens was a visiting professor in the following institutions:
* [[University of California, Berkeley]]<ref name=Wilby-2011>{{cite news |last =Wilby|first=Peter |author-link=Peter Wilby |date=16 December 2011 |title=Christopher Hitchens |type=obituary |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |quote=Hitchens was ... a liberal studies professor at the [[New School of Social Research|New School]] in New York and, for a time, visiting professor at [[UC Berkeley|Berkeley]] in California |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-obituary |url-status=live |access-date=22 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909004551/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-obituary |archive-date=9 September 2019 }}</ref><ref name=H22>{{cite magazine |title=Christopher Hitchens |department=Biography |year=2003 |magazine=[[The Atlantic (magazine)|The Atlantic]] |quote=He has also taught as a visiting professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]; the [[University of Pittsburgh]]; and the [[New School of Social Research]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/about/people/chbio.htm
|url-status=live |access-date=15 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217200429/http://www.theatlantic.com/past/about/people/chbio.htm |archive-date=17 February 2017 }}</ref><ref name=BerkCH>{{cite web |title=Christopher Hitchens |website=Simon & Schuster |access-date=22 June 2019 |quote=A visiting professor of liberal studies at the [[New School of Social Research|New School]] in New York City, he was also the I.F. Stone professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Christopher-Hitchens/39628932 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622141507/https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Christopher-Hitchens/39628932
|archive-date=22 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[University of Pittsburgh]]<ref name=H22/><ref>{{cite news |last=Maccabe |first=Colin |date=27 February 2011 |title=A conversation with Christopher Hitchens: How Pittsburgh made me |department=The Next Page |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2011/02/27/The-Next-Page-A-conversation-with-Christopher-Hitchens-How-Pittsburgh-Made-Me/stories/201102270223 |access-date=22 June 2019 |quote=Hitchens [shown in photo above] in 1997, as a visiting professor in the [[University of Pittsburgh]] English Department |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622141502/https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2011/02/27/The-Next-Page-A-conversation-with-Christopher-Hitchens-How-Pittsburgh-Made-Me/stories/201102270223|archive-date=22 June 2019
|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[The New School]] of Social Research<ref name=Wilby-2011/><ref name=H22/><ref name=BerkCH/>

==Political views==
{{Main|Political views of Christopher Hitchens}}
{{Quote box|width=30em|align=right|
quote=My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, anyplace, anytime. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass. |salign=right |source=—Christopher Hitchens<ref>{{cite video |title=The immortal rejoinders of Christopher Hitchens |type=video |time=2:45 |website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] (vanityfair.com) |date=13 January 2014 |url=http://video.vanityfair.com/watch/vintage-vf-the-immortal-rejoinders-of-christopher-hitchens |url-status=dead |access-date=25 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419141146/https://video.vanityfair.com/watch/vintage-vf-the-immortal-rejoinders-of-christopher-hitchens |archive-date=19 April 2019 }}</ref>}}

In 2009 Hitchens was listed by ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine as one of the 25 "most influential liberals" in the US media.<ref>{{cite press release |title=The 25&nbsp;most influential Liberals in the U.S. media |date=22 January 2009 |magazine=[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/influential-media-obama-oped-cx_tv_ee_hra_0122liberal_slide_13.html |url-status=live |access-date=23 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125085213/http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/influential-media-obama-oped-cx_tv_ee_hra_0122liberal_slide_13.html |archive-date=25 November 2009 }}</ref> The article also noted that he would "likely be aghast to find himself on this list", as it reduces his self-styled radicalism to mere liberalism. Hitchens's political perspectives also appear in his wide-ranging writings, which include many dialogues.<ref>{{cite news  |last=Dalrymple |first=Theodore|author-link=Theodore Dalrymple |date=June–July 2010 |title=The Brothers Grim |website=First Things (firstthings.com) |url=http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/05/the-brothers-grim |url-status=dead |access-date=25 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825051556/http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/05/the-brothers-grim |archive-date=25 August 2011 }}</ref> He said of [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[objectivism]], "I have always found it quaint, and rather touching, that there is a movement in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough."<ref name="Masciotra, David-2015">{{cite magazine |last=Masciotra |first=David |date=2 March 2015 |title=Libertarianism is for petulant children: Ayn Rand, Rand Paul, and the movement's sad "rebellion" |magazine=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]] |via=salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/libertarianism_is_for_petulant_children_ayn_rand_rand_paul_and_the_movements_sad_rebellion_partner/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909185804/http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/libertarianism_is_for_petulant_children_ayn_rand_rand_paul_and_the_movements_sad_rebellion_partner/ |archive-date=9 September 2017 }}</ref>

Hitchens disagreed with the premise of a Jewish homeland<ref>{{cite news |last=Kirchick |first=James |date=17 December 2011 |title=Despite criticism of Israel, Hitchens was ardent foe of anti-semitism |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2011-12-17/ty-article/despite-criticism-of-israel-hitchens-was-ardent-foe-of-anti-semitism/0000017f-f758-d5bd-a17f-f77a6ffa0000 |url-status=live |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911192727/https://www.haaretz.com/2011-12-17/ty-article/despite-criticism-of-israel-hitchens-was-ardent-foe-of-anti-semitism/0000017f-f758-d5bd-a17f-f77a6ffa0000?_amp=true |archive-date=11 September 2022 }}</ref> and had said of himself, "I am an [[Anti-Zionist]]. I'm one of those people of Jewish descent who believes that Zionism would be a mistake even if there were no [[Palestinian people|Palestinians]]."<ref name=Hölbling-2004>{{cite book |first1=Walter |last1=Hölbling |first2=Klaus |last2=Rieser-Wohlfarter |year=2004 |title=What Is American? New Identities in U.S. Culture |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-7734-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__Tn7LqhWI7IC/page/n342 351] ff |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__Tn7LqhWI7IC |access-date=6 April 2011 }}</ref>

Having long described himself as a socialist and a Marxist, Hitchens began his break from the established political left after what he called the "tepid reaction" of the Western left to [[The Satanic Verses controversy|the controversy]] over ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |date=26 October 1989|title=Siding with Rushdie |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v11/n20/christopher-hitchens/siding-with-rushdie |access-date=15 March 2025|work=London Review of Books |volume=11 |issue=20 |issn=0260-9592}}</ref> followed by what he saw as the left's embrace of Bill Clinton and the anti-war movement's opposition to [[NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina]] in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |date=11 July 2005|title=From Srebrenica to Baghdad |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/07/what-the-genocide-taught-us-about-intervention.html |access-date=21 March 2025 |work=Slate |issn=1091-2339}}</ref> He later became a so-called liberal hawk and supported the [[war on terror]], but he had some reservations, such as his characterisation of [[waterboarding]] as torture after voluntarily undergoing the procedure.<ref name=believeme>{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |date=1 August 2008 |title=Believe me, it's torture |magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808 |access-date=1 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080901000428/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808|archive-date=1 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="vfwaterboardvideo">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/video/2008/hitchens_video200808|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809003051/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/video/2008/hitchens_video200808|title=Video: On the Waterboard|archive-date=9 August 2011|magazine=Vanity Fair}}</ref> In January 2006, he joined four other individuals and four organisations, including the [[ACLU]] and [[Greenpeace]], as plaintiffs in a lawsuit, ''[[ACLU v. NSA]]'', challenging Bush's [[NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–07)|NSA warrantless surveillance]]; the lawsuit was filed by the ACLU.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lichtblau|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Lichtblau|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17nsa.html|title=Two Groups Planning to Sue Over Federal Eavesdropping|work=The New York Times|date=17 January 2006|access-date=18 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531150200/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17nsa.html|archive-date=31 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/23485res20060116.html|title=Statement – Christopher Hitchens, NSA Lawsuit Client|publisher=Aclu.org|date=16 January 2006|access-date=18 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026145005/http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/23485res20060116.html|archive-date=26 October 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens was an avid critic of President [[Slobodan Milošević]] of Serbia and other Serbian politicians of the 1990s. He called Milošević a "[[fascist]]" and a "[[Nazism|Nazi]]" after the [[Bosnian genocide]] and [[ethnic cleansing]] of [[Albanians]] in Kosovo and expressed a positive reaction to [[Death of Slobodan Milosevic|his death]]. Hitchens often accused the Serbian government of committing numerous war crimes during the [[Yugoslav Wars]]. He denounced [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Edward S. Herman]], who criticised the NATO intervention there. Hitchens also criticised [[Croatian president]] [[Franjo Tuđman]] and the policies of the Croatian government, which he saw as reviving "[[Ustashe]] formations".<ref name="Hari-2004">{{Cite news|last=Hari|first=Johann|title=Christopher Hitchens: In enemy territory|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/christopher-hitchens-in-enemy-territory-550522.html|work=The Independent|date=22 September 2004|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325045006/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/christopher-hitchens-in-enemy-territory-550522.html|archive-date=25 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|title=No Sympathy for Slobo|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/03/slobodan-milosevic-resentful-nonentity-bloodthirsty-dictator.html|website=Slate.com|date=13 March 2006|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325045002/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/03/slobodan-milosevic-resentful-nonentity-bloodthirsty-dictator.html|archive-date=25 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Book Excerpt: Hitchen's 'God is Not Great'|url=https://www.newsweek.com/book-excerpt-hitchenss-god-not-great-99357|website=Newsweek.com|date=21 August 2007|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704202311/https://www.newsweek.com/book-excerpt-hitchenss-god-not-great-99357|archive-date=4 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens held [[Abortion debate|complex views on abortion]]; being ethically opposed to it in most instances, and believing that a [[foetus]] was entitled to [[personhood]], while holding ambiguous and changing views [[Abortion law|on its legality]].<ref name="Vanity Fair-2003">{{Cite magazine|date=1 February 2003|title=Fetal Distraction|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/02/hitchens200302|access-date=2022-11-26|magazine=Vanity Fair|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203050033/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/02/hitchens200302|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 1988 interview with ''Crisis Magazine'', Hitchens wrote: "It might interest your readers to know that Margaret Thatcher voted to keep capital punishment, to keep homosexuality criminal, to make divorce harder to get, and ''for'' the abortion bill. I gather that she's since changed her position on the latter. My own vote would have been, as so often, exactly the reverse of hers."<ref name="Hitchens-2019"/> However, Hitchens argued that the issue was cynically used by self-described [[pro-life]] politicians, and doubted that they sincerely desired to legally prohibit abortion.<ref name="Vanity Fair-2003"/> In the same 1988 interview with ''Crisis Magazine'' he stated:<ref name="Hitchens-2019"/> "Once you allow that the occupant of the womb is even potentially a life, it cuts athwart any glib invocation of "the woman's right to choose"<ref name="Hitchens-2019"/> and that:{{blockquote|I would like to see something much broader, much more visionary. We need a new compact between society and the woman. It's a progressive compact because it is aimed at the future generation.  It would restrict abortion in most circumstances. Now I know most women don't like having to justify their circumstances to someone. 'How dare you presume to subject me to this?' some will say.}}{{blockquote|But sorry, lady, this is an extremely grave social issue. It's everybody's business.<ref name="Hitchens-2019"/>}} Hitchens supported [[Right to keep and bear arms|gun rights]]<ref name="Carter-2021"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |orig-date=24 January 1994 |date=2 October 2017|title=The Myth of Gun Control |url=https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/journalism/the-myth-of-gun-control/ |access-date=6 August 2023|via=Scraps from the Loft |magazine=[[The Nation]] |archive-date=6 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806073655/https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/journalism/the-myth-of-gun-control/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and supported [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|date=3 March 2004|title=The Married State|language=en-US|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107827627378044934|access-date=2022-05-29|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=29 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529015018/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107827627378044934|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Miniter|first=Richard|title=Christopher Hitchens, As I Knew Him|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2011/12/16/christopher-hitchens-as-i-knew-him/|access-date=29 May 2022|website=Forbes|language=en|archive-date=11 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511084236/https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2011/12/16/christopher-hitchens-as-i-knew-him/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens was a supporter of the [[European Union]]. In an appearance on C-SPAN in 1993, Hitchens said, "As of 1992, there is now a Euro passport that makes you free to travel within the boundaries of&nbsp;... member countries, and I've always liked the idea of European unity, and so I held out for a Euro passport. So I travel as a European."<ref>{{YouTube|RExo5JOn4tg|Hitchens – For the Sake of Argument (1993)}}</ref> Speaking at the launch of his brother [[Peter Hitchens|Peter]]'s book, ''[[The Abolition of Britain]]'', at Conway Hall in London, Hitchens denounced the so-called [[Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom|Eurosceptic movement]], describing it as "the [[British fascism|British version of fascism]]". He went on to say, "Scepticism is a title of honour. These people are not sceptical. They're fanatical. They're dogmatic".<ref>{{YouTube|6401tLgOKXk|Christopher Hitchens 1999 Discussing ''The Abolition of Britain'' with Peter Hitchens}}</ref>

==Critiques of individuals==
Hitchens wrote book-length biographical essays on [[Thomas Jefferson]] (''[[Thomas Jefferson: Author of America]]''), [[Thomas Paine]] (''[[Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man": A Biography]]''), and [[George Orwell]] (''[[Why Orwell Matters]]'').

He also became known for excoriating criticisms of public contemporary figures, including [[Mother Teresa]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[Henry Kissinger]], the subjects of three full-length texts: ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice]]'', ''[[No One Left to Lie To|No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton]]'', and ''[[The Trial of Henry Kissinger]]''.

Writers [[Nancy Gibbs]] and [[Michael Duffy (American journalist)|Michael Duffy]] published an article in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' in 2007,<ref>{{cite magazine |first1=N. |last1=Gibbs |author1-link=Nancy Gibbs |first2=M. |last2=Duffy |author2-link=Michael Duffy (American journalist) |year=2007 |title=Why Christopher Hitchens Is Wrong About Billy Graham |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1662757,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401191359/https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1662757,00.html |archive-date=1 April 2024 }}</ref> claiming that Hitchens, while promoting his book ''[[God Is Not Great|God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything]]'', described the Christian evangelist [[Billy Graham]] as "a self-conscious fraud" and "a disgustingly evil man" and that the evangelist had made a living by "going around spouting lies to young people. What a horrible career. I gather it's soon to be over. I certainly hope so".<ref>{{cite web |last=Crawley |first=William |date=September 2007 |title="A disgustingly evil man ..." |department=Will & Testament |language=en |publisher=[[BBC]] |type=blog |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2007/09/a_disgustingly_evil_man.html |url-status=live |access-date=14 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224162818/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2007/09/a_disgustingly_evil_man.html |archive-date=24 February 2018 }}</ref>

They challenged Hitchens's suggestion that Graham went into ministry to make money. They argued that during his career Graham "turn[ed] down million-dollar television and Hollywood offers". While broadly condemning Hitchens's comments at a time when Graham's health was failing, they mention he was "on more solid ground" when criticising Graham's "vile", if later retracted, remarks about Jews in his 1972 [[Oval Office]] meeting with [[Richard Nixon]].<ref name="bbcregret">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1850077.stm "Graham regrets Jewish slur"], [[BBC]], March 2, 2002.</ref>

In 1999, Hitchens wrote a profile of [[Donald Trump]] for ''[[The Sunday Herald]]''. Trump had expressed interest in running in the [[2000 United States presidential election]] as a candidate for the [[Reform Party of the United States of America|Reform Party]]. Of Trump, Hitchens said:

{{blockquote|Because the man with many monikers in many ways embodies his country and because this election cycle is now so absurd, and so much up for grabs, it is unwise to exclude anything.... The best guess has to be that here's a man who hates to be alone, who needs approval and reinforcement, who talks a better game than he plays, who is crude, hyperactive, emotional, and optimistic.<ref>{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |date=5 December 1999 |title=Holding the Trump card |location=Glasgow, UK |newspaper=[[The Sunday Herald]] }}</ref>}}

Hitchens had previously written that Trump demonstrated how "nobody is more covetous and greedy than those who have far too much".<ref>{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |date=July 1992 |title=Billionaire populism |place=New York, NY |magazine=[[The Nation (magazine)|The Nation]] }}</ref>

==Criticism of religion==
{{See also|God Is Not Great}}
Hitchens was an antitheist, and said that a person "could be an atheist and wish that belief in God were correct", but that "an antitheist, a term I'm trying to get into circulation, is someone who is relieved that there's no evidence for such an assertion".<ref>{{Cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516100646/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/nothing_sacred.html|title=Nothing sacred – Journalist and provocateur Christopher Hitchens picks a fight with God|access-date=2 May 2014|first=Andre|last=Mayer|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=14 May 2007|url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/nothing_sacred.html|archive-date=16 May 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> He often spoke against the [[Abrahamic religions]]. When asked by readers of ''[[The Independent]]'' what he considered to be the "axis of evil", Hitchens replied "Christianity, Judaism, [[Islam]] – the three leading monotheisms".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/christopher-hitchens-you-ask-the-questions-9242892.html|title=Christopher Hitchens: You ask the questions|work=The Independent|location=London|date=6 March 2002|access-date=1 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530191743/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/christopher-hitchens-you-ask-the-questions-9242892.html|archive-date=30 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In debates Hitchens often posed what has become known as "Hitchens's Challenge": to name at least one moral action that a person without a faith (i.e. an atheist or antitheist) could not possibly perform, and conversely, to name one immoral action that only a person with a faith could perform or has performed in the past.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hitchens' Challenge|url=https://cyberatheist.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/hitchens-challenge-2/|website=Cyber Atheist|date=2 May 2015|access-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216132705/https://cyberatheist.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/hitchens-challenge-2/|archive-date=16 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|title=Hitchens Challenge|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TnA3b8MhD0|website=Youtube|date=22 December 2007 |access-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508031019/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TnA3b8MhD0|archive-date=8 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In his best-seller ''[[God Is Not Great]]'', Hitchens expanded his criticism to include all religions, including those rarely attacked by Western secularists, such as [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]] and [[neo-paganism]]. Hitchens said that organised religion is "the main source of hatred in the world", calling it "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: [it] ought to have a great deal on its conscience".<ref>{{Cite web|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/03/free_speech_6.html|title=Free Speech|publisher=Onegoodmove|date=1 March 2007|access-date=1 May 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212073345/http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/03/free_speech_6.html|archive-date=12 February 2012}}</ref> In the same work Hitchens says that humanity therefore needs a renewed [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/godisnotgreathow00hitc|title=God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|year= 2007|publisher=Twelve Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0446579803|access-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326153533/https://archive.org/details/godisnotgreathow00hitc|archive-date=26 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The book received mixed responses, ranging from praise in ''[[The New York Times]]'' for his "logical flourishes and conundrums"<ref>{{Cite news|first=Michael|last=Kinsley|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Kinsley-t.html|title=In god, Distrust|work=[[The New York Times Book Review]]|date=13 May 2007|access-date=1 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704085534/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Kinsley-t.html|archive-date=4 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> to accusations of "intellectual and moral shabbiness" in the ''[[Financial Times]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/6afa3a28-1ecd-11dc-bc22-000b5df10621|title=Here's the hitch|first=Michael|last=Skapinker|author-link=Michael Skapinker|work=[[Financial Times]]|date=22 June 2007|access-date=30 June 2007|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702204245/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6afa3a28-1ecd-11dc-bc22-000b5df10621.html|archive-date=2 July 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''God Is Not Great'' was nominated for a [[National Book Award]] on 10 October 2007.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Hillel|last=Italie|url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20071014/ENTERTAIN/710140312|title=The Associated Press: Hitchens Among Book Award Finalists|agency=Associated Press|date=14 October 2007|access-date=1 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024553/http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20071014/ENTERTAIN/710140312|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''God Is Not Great'' affirmed Hitchens's position within the "[[New Atheism]]" movement. Hitchens was made an honorary associate of the [[Rationalist International]] and the [[National Secular Society]] shortly after its release, and was later named to the honorary board of distinguished achievers of the [[Freedom From Religion Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite web|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=http://www.secularism.org.uk/patrickharviemsp1.html|title=Honorary Associate: Christopher Hitchens|work=National Secular Society|access-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605094639/https://www.secularism.org.uk/patrickharviemsp1.html|archive-date=5 June 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ffrf.org/news/releases/honorary-ffrf-board-announced/|title=Honorary FFRF Board Announced|access-date=20 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217052917/http://ffrf.org/news/releases/honorary-ffrf-board-announced/|archive-date=17 December 2010}}</ref> He also joined the advisory board of the [[Secular Coalition for America]], a group of atheists and humanists.<ref name="SCfA"/> Hitchens said he would accept an invitation from any religious leader who wished to debate with him. On 30 September 2007, [[Richard Dawkins]], Hitchens, [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]], and [[Daniel Dennett]] met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion lasting two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "[[New Atheism#Prominent figures|The Four Horsemen]]".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Dawkins|date=1 October 2013|title=The Four Horsemen DVD|url=https://richarddawkins.net/2013/10/the-four-horsemen-dvd-19-95/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611214236/https://richarddawkins.net/2013/10/the-four-horsemen-dvd-19-95/|archive-date=11 June 2017|access-date=13 April 2016|website=Richard Dawkins Foundation}}.</ref> In it, Hitchens stated that he saw the [[Maccabean Revolt]] as the most unfortunate event in human history, due to the reversion from [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic thought and philosophy]] to [[messianism]] and fundamentalism that it constituted.{{efn|
"The moment where everything went wrong is the moment when the Jewish Hellenists were defeated by the Jewish messiahs, the celebration now benignly known as Hanukkah." — Hitchens<ref>{{YouTube|n7IHU28aR2E }}, at 112{{sup|m}}</ref>
}}{{efn|
"As a consequence of the successful [[Maccabean revolt]] against Hellenism, so it is said, a puddle of olive oil that should have lasted only for one day managed to burn for eight days. Wow! Certain proof, not just of an Almighty, but of an Almighty with a special fondness for fundamentalists."<ref name=Hitchins-2007-12-03>{{cite magazine |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |date=3 December 2007 |title=Bah, Hanukkah |department=Fighting words |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2007/12/bah_hanukkah.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822203912/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2007/12/bah_hanukkah.html |archive-date=22 August 2017 }}</ref>
}}

That year Hitchens began a series of written debates on the question "Is Christianity Good for the World?" with the Christian theologian and pastor [[Douglas Wilson (theologian)|Douglas Wilson]], published in ''[[Christianity Today]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |title=Is Christianity good for the world? Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson debate |date=8 May 2007 |magazine=[[Christianity Today]] |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html |url-status=live |access-date=1 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612232913/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html |archive-date=12 June 2007 }}</ref> This exchange eventually became a book with the same title published in 2008. During their promotional tour of the book, they were accompanied by the producer [[Darren Doane]]'s film crew. Thence Doane produced the film ''[[Collision (2009 film)|Collision]]: Is Christianity GOOD for the World?,'' which was released on 27 October 2009.<ref name="collisionmovie.com">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141014235805/http://www.collisionmovie.com/ Article title]}}</ref><ref name="christianitytoday.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html|title=Hitchens vs. Wilson, Part 1|date=8 May 2007|access-date=17 May 2007|archive-date=12 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612232913/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On 4 April 2009, Hitchens debated [[William Lane Craig]] on the existence of God at [[Biola University]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|first=Stan|last=Guthrie|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2009/april/hitchens-vs-craig-round-two.html|title=Hitchens vs. Caig: Round Two|magazine=Christianity Today|date=6 April 2009|access-date=1 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150727220243/http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2009/april/hitchens-vs-craig-round-two.html|archive-date=27 July 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> On 19 October 2009, [[Intelligence Squared]] explored the question "Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world?".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126046645081385887|first=Helen|last=Kirwan-Taylor|title=For the sake of argument|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=11 December 2009|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226130418/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126046645081385887|archive-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[John Onaiyekan]] and [[Ann Widdecombe]] argued that it was, while Hitchens joined [[Stephen Fry]] in arguing that it was not. The latter won the debate according to an audience poll.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2009/10/fry-hitch-v-catholic-church.html|title=Fry & Hitch v the Catholic Church|publisher=New Humanist|date=20 October 2009|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226182121/http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2009/10/fry-hitch-v-catholic-church.html|archive-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens referred to '[[Islamophobia]]' as a "fake term" that is "dangerous" because it "insinuates that any reservations about Islam must [[ipso facto]] be 'phobic'. A phobia is an irrational fear or dislike. Islamic preaching very often manifests precisely this feature, which is why suspicion of it is by no means irrational".<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/08/the-ground-zero-mosque-debate-is-about-tolerance-and-a-whole-lot-more.html|title=A Test of Tolerance|website=www.slate.com|date=23 August 2010 |access-date=23 August 2010|archive-date=16 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216054501/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/08/the-ground-zero-mosque-debate-is-about-tolerance-and-a-whole-lot-more.html|url-status=live |last1=Hitchens |first1=Christopher }}</ref> On 5 October 2010, Hitchens debated with [[Tariq Ramadan]] as to whether Islam was a religion of peace, at [[92nd Street Y|92NY]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=15 March 2012|title=Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace?|url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/christopher-hitchens-and-tariq-ramadan-debate-is-islam-a-religion-of-peace|access-date=2023-09-11|website=Time Out New York|archive-date=19 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919171634/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/christopher-hitchens-and-tariq-ramadan-debate-is-islam-a-religion-of-peace|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 26 November 2010, Hitchens appeared in Toronto, Ontario, at the [[Munk Debates]], where he debated religion with the former British prime minister [[Tony Blair]], a convert to [[Roman Catholicism]]. Blair argued that religion is a force for good, while Hitchens argued against.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hitchens-apparent-winner-in-religion-debate-1.930421|title=Hitchens apparent winner in religion debate|newspaper=[[CBC News]]|date=27 November 2010|access-date=26 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011164218/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hitchens-apparent-winner-in-religion-debate-1.930421|archive-date=11 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Throughout these debates, Hitchens became known for his persuasive and enthusiastic rhetoric. "Wit and eloquence", "verbal barbs and linguistic dexterity", and "self-reference, literary engagement and hyperbole" are all elements of his speeches.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/16/he-knew-he-was-right-2|title=He knew he was right|first=Ian|last=Parker|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=16 October 2006|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011153605/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/16/he-knew-he-was-right-2|archive-date=11 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hitchens-cleared-space-for-real-debate/article4247740/|title=Hitchens cleared space for real debate|first=Doug|last=Sanders|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=16 December 2011|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618084341/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hitchens-cleared-space-for-real-debate/article4247740/|archive-date=18 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ellis-2015">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.popmatters.com/189249-antitheism-and-the-art-of-the-hitch-slap-2495575192.html|title=Antitheism and the art of the "Hitch Slap"|first=Iain|last=Ellis|magazine=Pop Matters|date=21 January 2015|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226132522/https://www.popmatters.com/189249-antitheism-and-the-art-of-the-hitch-slap-2495575192.html|archive-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The term "hitch-slap" has been used as an informal term among his supporters for a carefully crafted remark designed to humiliate his opponents.<ref name="Ellis-2015"/><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/free-speaking-and-listening-remembering-when-censorship-got-hitchslapped/|title=A Remembered 'Hitchslap' For The Worst Censors of All, Ourselves|first=Janus|last=Kopfstein|magazine=Vice|date=18 December 2011|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024747/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/z44zj3/free-speaking-and-listening-remembering-when-censorship-got-hitchslapped|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchens's line "one asks wistfully if there is no provision in the procedures of military justice for them to be taken out and shot", condemning the perpetrators of the [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse]], was cited by ''[[The Humanist]]'' as an example.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2012/features/prick-the-bubbles-pass-the-mantle-hitchens-as-orwells-successor|first=Anthony|last=Lock|title=Prick the Bubbles, Pass the Mantle: Hitchens as Orwell's Successor|publisher=The Humanist|date=29 June 2012|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024738/https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2012/features/prick-the-bubbles-pass-the-mantle-hitchens-as-orwells-successor|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> A tribute in ''[[Politico]]'' stated that this was a trait Hitchens shared with his fellow atheist and intellectual [[Gore Vidal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2012/08/gore-vidal-gentleman-bitch-067223|first1=Jed|last1=Lipinski|first2=Tom|last2=McGeveran|title=Gore Vidal, gentleman bitch|publisher=Politico|date=1 August 2012|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226200551/https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2012/08/gore-vidal-gentleman-bitch-067223|archive-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:HitchensTalk.JPG|thumb|Hitchens after a talk at [[The College of New Jersey]] in March 2009]]
Hitchens was raised nominally Christian and attended Christian boarding schools, but from an early age he declined to participate in communal prayers. Later in life, Hitchens discovered that he was of Jewish descent on his mother's side and that his Jewish ancestors were immigrants from Eastern Europe (including [[Poland]]).<ref name=Barber-2002/><ref>{{Cite book|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|year=2010|title=Hitch-22: A Memoir|publisher=Twelve|isbn=978-0446540339|page=352}}</ref> Hitchens was married twice, first to Eleni Meleagrou, a [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]], in 1981; the couple had two children, a son and a daughter.<ref name="Grimes-2011">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html|title=Christopher Hitchens, Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, Dies at 62|first=William|last=Grimes|author-link=William Grimes (journalist)|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 December 2011|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509050553/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html|archive-date=9 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1991 Hitchens married his second wife, Carol Blue, an American screenwriter,<ref name="Gordon-2007"/> in a ceremony held at the apartment of Victor Navasky, editor of ''The Nation''. They had a daughter together, Antonia,<ref name="Gordon-2007"/> a writer and journalist currently on ''The New Yorker'' staff.<ref>"Antonia Hitchens," LinkedIn. Retrieved 11Nov2025.</ref>

Hitchens considered reading, writing, and public speaking not as a job or career but as "what I am, who I am, [and] what I love."<ref name=Hitchins-2007-08-28-CSPAN/>{{efn|
I like to think that I have a life rather than a job or than a career, and it's all to do with reading and writing: The only two things I was ever any good at—and public speaking, which I can also do. that's how I make my living, but it's also what I am, who I am, what I love.<ref name=Hitchins-2007-08-28-CSPAN>
{{Cite episode |title=In Depth with Christopher Hitchens |series=BookTV |network=C-SPAN |airdate=28 August 2007 |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1/depth-christopher-hitchens |url-status=live |access-date=22 June 2019 |time=1:36:59–1:37:20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923235429/https://www.c-span.org/video/?198800-1%2Fdepth-christopher-hitchens |archive-date=23 September 2018 }}</ref>
}}

In November 1973 Hitchens's mother died by suicide in [[Athens]] in a pact with her lover, a [[Defrocking|defrocked]] clergyman named Timothy Bryan.<ref name="Walsh-2010"/> The pair overdosed on sleeping pills in adjoining hotel rooms and Bryan slashed his wrists in the bathtub. Hitchens flew alone to Athens to recover his mother's body, initially under the impression that she had been murdered.

In 2007, after living in the United States for twenty-five years, he became an [[American citizen]], electing to retain his [[UK citizen]]ship.<ref>{{cite web|date=16 December 2011 |title=Christopher Hitchens |type=obituary |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |place=London, UK |language=en |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-obituary |url-status=live |access-date=2022-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006221103/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-obituary |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}</ref>

===Relationship with his brother===
The journalist and author [[Peter Hitchens]] is Christopher's younger brother by two years. Christopher said in 2005 the main difference between the two is belief in the existence of God.<ref name=Katz-2005>{{cite news |last=Katz |first=Ian |date=31 May 2005 |title=When Christopher met Peter |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |place=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/may/31/hayfestival2005.guardianhayfestival2 |url-status=live |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517104151/http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2005/story/0,15880,1495897,00.html |archive-date=17 May 2008 }}</ref> Peter became a member of the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)#International Socialist period|International Socialists]] (forerunners of the modern [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers' Party]]) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.<ref name=Jones-2015>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Owen |date=9 September 2015 |title=Peter Hitchens got me thinking: Do lefties always have to turn right in old age? |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |place=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/peter-hitchens-tory-trotskyite-left-right |url-status=live |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704231447/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/peter-hitchens-tory-trotskyite-left-right |archive-date=4 July 2019 }}</ref>

The brothers reportedly fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in ''[[The Spectator]]'' which allegedly characterised Christopher as a [[Stalinist]].<ref name=Katz-2005/><ref>{{cite web |title=O Brother, Where Art Thou? |date=13 October 2001 |website=[[The Spectator]] archive |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-october-2001/18/o-brother-where-art-thou |access-date=5 January 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224013608/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-october-2001/18/o-brother-where-art-thou |archive-date=24 December 2017 }}</ref> After the birth of Peter's third child, the brothers were reconciled.<ref name=Katz-2006>{{cite news |last=Katz |first=Ian |title=War of words |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/28/society.politics|date=28 October 2006|access-date=17 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013172950/http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1933179,00.html|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> Peter's review of ''[[God Is Not Great]]'' led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement.<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=MacIntyre |date=11 June 2007 |title=The Hitchens brothers: Anatomy of a row |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |place=London, UK |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2640860.ece |access-date=11 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829204608/http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2640860.ece |archive-date=29 August 2008}}</ref>

In 2007 the brothers appeared as panellists on [[BBC]] TV's ''[[Question Time (TV series)|Question Time]]'', where they clashed on a number of issues.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tryhorn |first=Chris |date=22 June 2007 |title=Boris steals ''Question Time''s Hitchens show |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |place=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2007/jun/22/borisstealsquestiontimeshi |url-status=live |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823005841/https://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2007/jun/22/borisstealsquestiontimeshi |archive-date=23 August 2018 }}</ref> In 2008, in the US, they debated the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] and the [[existence of God]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hitchens vs Hitchens debate – on God, war, politics, and culture |date=7 May 2008 |website=cfimichigan.org |url=http://www.cfimichigan.org/hitchens |access-date=3 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516061109/http://www.cfimichigan.org/hitchens|archive-date=16 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010 at the [[Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life|Pew Forum]], the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.<ref name=Marrapodi-2010>{{cite news |last=Marrapodi |first=Eric |date=13 October 2010 |title=Hitchens brothers debate if civilisation can survive without God |website=CNN |type=blog |url=http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/13/hitchens-brothers-square-off-in-debate-over-god-in-civilization/ |url-status=dead |access-date=14 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015191444/http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/13/hitchens-brothers-square-off-in-debate-over-god-in-civilization/ |archive-date=15 October 2010 }}</ref> At the memorial service held for Christopher in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's [[Epistle to the Philippians]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Christopher Hitchens remembered at memorial service in NYC |date=20 April 2012 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |type=blog |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/christopher-hitchens-remembered-at-memorial-service-in-nyc/2012/04/20/gIQA1usIWT_blog.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421015820/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/christopher-hitchens-remembered-at-memorial-service-in-nyc/2012/04/20/gIQA1usIWT_blog.html |archive-date=21 April 2012 }}</ref>

==Illness and death==
[[File:Hitchens 2010.jpg|thumb|right|Hitchens in November 2010]]
{{external media |video1=[https://www.c-span.org/video/?297586-1/qa-christopher-hitchens ''Q&A'' interview with Hitchens, following his diagnosis with esophageal cancer, 23 January 2011], [[C-SPAN]] }}
On 8 June 2010, Hitchens was on tour in New York promoting his memoirs ''Hitch-22'' when he was taken into emergency care suffering from a severe [[pericardial effusion]]. Soon after, he announced he was postponing his tour to undergo treatment for [[oesophageal cancer]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Christopher Hitchens diagnosed with cancer, cuts short his book tour |date=June 2010 |department=Reliable Source |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/06/rs-_hitchens.html |url-status=dead |access-date=16 December 2011  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324224733/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/06/rs-_hitchens.html |archive-date=24 March 2019 }}</ref>

In a ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' piece published in 2010, titled "Topic of Cancer",<ref name="Hitchens-2010a"/> he stated that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. He said that he recognised the long-term prognosis was far from positive and he would be a "very lucky person to live another five years".<ref>{{cite news |first=Jeffrey |last=Goldberg|author-link=Jeffrey Goldberg |date=6 August 2010 |title=Hitchens talks to Goldblog about cancer and God |magazine=[[The Atlantic (magazine)|The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/08/hitchens-talks-to-goldblog-about-cancer-and-god/61072/ |url-status=live |access-date=17 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816121945/http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/08/hitchens-talks-to-goldblog-about-cancer-and-god/61072/ |archive-date=16 August 2010 }}</ref> A heavy smoker and drinker since his teenage years, Hitchens acknowledged that these habits were likely to have contributed to his illness.<ref name="Video 1995"/> During his illness, Hitchens was under the care of [[Francis Collins]] and was the subject of Collins's new cancer treatment, which maps out the [[human genome]] and selectively targets damaged [[DNA]].{{efn|
In an interview with the UK [[Telegraph Magazine|''Telegraph'' magazine]], Hitchens said that [[Francis Collins|Collins]], who was formerly the director of the [[National Center for Human Genome Research]] and now serves as director of the [[National Institutes of Health]], is partially responsible for developing a new cancer treatment that maps out the patient's entire genetic make-up and targets damaged DNA.<ref name=Cole-2011/>
}}<ref name=Cole-2011>{{cite web |first=Ethan |last=Cole |date=29 March 2011 |title=Atheist Hitchens credits evangelical Francis Collins for cancer hope |magazine=[[The Christian Post]] |url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheist-hitchens-credits-evangelical-francis-collins-for-cancer-hope-49615/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229151408/http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheist-hitchens-credits-evangelical-francis-collins-for-cancer-hope-49615 |archive-date=29 December 2011 }}</ref>

According to [[Christopher Buckley (novelist)|Christopher Buckley]], before Hitchens died, his estranged friend [[Sidney Blumenthal]] wrote to Hitchens. Buckley said the letter contained words of "tenderness and comfort and implicit forgiveness".<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=15 December 2011|title=Postscript: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/postscript-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011|access-date=5 December 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126214713/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/postscript-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens died of [[pneumonia]] on 15 December 2011 in the [[University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center]], Houston, aged 62.<ref name="Grimes-2011"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilby |first=Peter |date=2011-12-16 |title=Christopher Hitchens obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-obituary |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> According to [[Andrew Sullivan]], his last words were "Capitalism. Downfall."<ref name="Sullivan-2012-04-20" />{{efn|
Then he dozed a little, and then roused himself and uttered a couple of words that were close to inaudible. Steve asked him to repeat them. There were two:
:''Capitalism''.
:''Downfall''.
In his end was his beginning.<ref name=Sullivan-2012-04-20>{{cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sullivan |date=2012-04-20 |df=dmy-all |title=The Hitch has landed |website=The Dish |url=https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/04/20/hitchs-service/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914003059/http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/04/20/hitchs-service/ |archive-date=14 September 2019 }}</ref>
}} In accordance with Hitchens's wishes, his body was donated to medical research.<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorial gatherings and the body of Christ(opher) |date=24 December 2011 |website=Daily Hitchens |type=blog |via=Blogspot.com |url=http://dailyhitchens.blogspot.com/2011/12/memorial-gatherings.html |url-status=live |access-date=10 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615182659/http://dailyhitchens.blogspot.com/2011/12/memorial-gatherings.html |archive-date=15 June 2015 }}</ref> ''[[Mortality (book)|Mortality]]'', a collection of seven of Hitchens's ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' essays about his illness, was published [[wikt:Special:Search/posthumous|posthumously]] in September&nbsp;2012.<ref>{{cite news |last=Buckley |first=Christopher |date=30 August 2012 |title=''Mortality'' by Christopher Hitchens |type=book review |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/books/review/mortality-by-christopher-hitchens.html |url-status=live |access-date=21 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122010946/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/books/review/mortality-by-christopher-hitchens.html |archive-date=22 November 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |year=2012 |title=Mortality |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0771039225 }}</ref>

===Reactions to death===
[[File:Hitchens Blair.jpg|alt=|thumb|Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Hitchens at the Munk debate on religion, Toronto, November 2010]]
Former British prime minister [[Tony Blair]] said, "Christopher Hitchens was a complete one-off, an amazing mixture of writer, journalist, polemicist and unique character. He was fearless in the pursuit of truth and any cause in which he believed. And there was no belief he held that he did not advocate with passion, commitment and brilliance. He was an extraordinary, compelling and colourful human being whom it was a privilege to know."<ref>{{cite news |title=Christopher Hitchens: tributes |date=16 December 2011 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |place=London, UK |page=15 |quote=Contemporaries, friends and admirers of Christopher Hitchens, who has died aged&nbsp;62, have paid tribute to the contrarian }}</ref><ref name=WTimes>{{cite news |title=Quotes on the death of pundit Christopher Hitchens |date=16 December 2011 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/16/quotes-on-the-death-of-pundit-christopher-hitchens/ |url-status=live |access-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324224735/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/16/quotes-on-the-death-of-pundit-christopher-hitchens/ |archive-date=24 March 2019 }}</ref>

[[Richard Dawkins]] said of Hitchens, "He was a [[polymath]], a wit, immensely knowledgeable, and a valiant fighter against all tyrants, including imaginary supernatural ones."<ref name=WTimes/> Dawkins later described Hitchens as "probably the best orator I've ever heard", and called his death "an enormous loss".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=d'Addario |first=Daniel |date=29 September 2013 |title=Richard Dawkins: I'm not like Christopher Hitchens! |magazine=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]] |url=https://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/richard_dawkins_im_not_like_christopher_hitchens/ |url-status=live |access-date=24 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424184946/https://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/richard_dawkins_im_not_like_christopher_hitchens/ |archive-date=24 April 2021 }}</ref>
{{external media|video1=[https://www.c-span.org/video/?305834-1/tribute-christopher-hitchens "A tribute to Christopher Hitchens", hosted by ''Vanity Fair'' magazine, 20 April 2012], [[C-SPAN]]}} The American [[theoretical physics|theoretical physicist]] and [[cosmologist]] [[Lawrence Krauss]] said:
{{blockquote|Christopher was a beacon of knowledge and light in a world that constantly threatens to extinguish both. He had the courage to accept the world for just what it is and not what he wanted it to be. That's the highest praise, I believe, one can give to any intellect. He understood that the universe doesn't care about our existence or welfare, and he epitomized the realization that our lives have meaning only to the extent that we give them meaning.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Lawrence|last=Krauss|author-link= Lawrence M. Krauss|url=http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644326-remembering-christopher-hitchens|date=23 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424194902/http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644326-remembering-christopher-hitchens|title=Remembering Christopher Hitchens|archive-date=24 April 2012|publisher=richarddawkins.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://atheistfoundation.org.au/lawrence-krauss-tribute-to-christopher-hitchens/|title=Transcript of Lawrence Krauss' tribute to Christopher Hitchens|year=2012|publisher=atheistfoundation.org|access-date=29 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324224741/http://atheistfoundation.org.au/lawrence-krauss-tribute-to-christopher-hitchens/|archive-date=24 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

[[Bill Maher]] paid tribute to Hitchens on his show ''[[Real Time with Bill Maher]]'', saying, "We lost a hero of mine, a friend, and one of the great talk show guests of all time."<ref>{{cite episode |series=Real Time with Bill Maher |series-link=Real Time with Bill Maher |season=10 |number=1 }}</ref>
[[Salman Rushdie]] and [[Stephen Fry]] paid tribute at the Christopher Hitchens Vanity Fair Memorial 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-tributes|title=Christopher Hitchens: tributes and reactions|first=Alison|last=Flood|work=The Guardian|date=16 December 2011|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419135038/http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-tributes|archive-date=19 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/04/christopher-hitchens-memorial-vanity-fair|title=Christopher Hitchens's Memorial: Sean Penn, Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, and Others Pay Tribute|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=20 April 2012|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084009/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/04/christopher-hitchens-memorial-vanity-fair|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16226580|title=Tributes paid to journalist Christopher Hitchens|date=16 December 2011|access-date=28 April 2016|work=BBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105071240/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16226580|archive-date=5 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/20/christopher-hitchens-memorial-new-york|title=Christopher Hitchens' wit and warmth remembered as New York pays tribute|first=Ed|last=Pilkington|work=The Guardian|date=20 April 2012|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905155523/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/20/christopher-hitchens-memorial-new-york|archive-date=5 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

The British conservative author and friend of Hitchens [[Douglas Murray (author)|Douglas Murray]] paid tribute to him in an article in ''[[The Spectator]]'', recalling personal experiences with him.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Murray|first=Douglas|date=16 December 2011|title=Remembering Christopher Hitchens {{!}} The Spectator|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/remembering-christopher-hitchens|access-date=2022-07-05|website=spectator.co.uk|language=en|archive-date=10 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010050522/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/remembering-christopher-hitchens|url-status=live}}</ref>

Three weeks before Hitchens's death, [[George Eaton (journalist)|George Eaton]] of the ''New Statesman'' wrote, "He is determined to ensure that he is not remembered simply as a 'lefty who turned right' or as a contrarian and provocateur. Throughout his career, he has retained a commitment to the Enlightenment values of reason, secularism, and pluralism. His targets—Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, God—are chosen not at random, but rather because they have offended one or more of these principles. The tragedy of Hitchens's illness is that it came at a time when he enjoyed a larger audience than ever. The great polemicist is certain to be remembered, but, as he was increasingly aware, perhaps not as he would like."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2011/11/hitchens-remembered-polemicist|title=Hitch's Rolls-Royce mind is still purring|first=George|last=Eaton|author-link=George Eaton (journalist)|work=The New Statesman|date=24 November 2011|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305035326/http://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2011/11/hitchens-remembered-polemicist|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'' asked whether Hitchens was the last public intellectual.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Russell|last=Jacoby|author-link=Russell Jacoby|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Christopher-Hitchens-The-Last/130123/|title=Christopher Hitchens: The Last Public Intellectual?|work=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]|date=18 December 2011|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929041456/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Christopher-Hitchens-The-Last/130123|archive-date=29 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

During an interview with Alex O'Connor, the discussion turned to [[Larry Taunton]]'s book ''[[The Faith of Christopher Hitchens]]'', released after Hitchens's death, which claimed that Hitchens started to flirt with spirituality. [[Richard Dawkins]] replied, "It's a disgraceful book. [Taunton] took advantage of a long car journey he had with Christopher Hitchens and I think Christopher was probably being polite and talking seriously to him about his religion." Dawkins added, "Religious apologists are so eager to get deathbed conversions that you have to watch it. Well actually, Christopher I think himself said that, 'if anybody claims that I had a deathbed conversion you can be absolutely sure that I wasn't in my right mind when it happened'."<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=Alex |title=Evolution, Genes, and Atheism - Richard Dawkins' Final Tour |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZpNr9eRTu4 |website=YouTube |date=14 March 2025 |publisher=Alex O'Connor |access-date=16 March 2025}}</ref> [[David Frum]], writing in ''The Atlantic'', states, "In the months before he died, Hitchens repeatedly and emphatically warned that claims like Taunton's would be forthcoming and should be disbelieved."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Frum |first1=David |title=Betraying the Faith of Christopher Hitchens |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/larry-tauntons-the-faith-of-christopher-hitchens-a-betrayal-to-reader-and-subject/486164/ |access-date=16 March 2025 |publisher=The Atlantic |date=9 June 2016}}</ref> In his posthumously published book, ''Mortality'', Hitchens wrote, "If I convert it's because it's better that a believer dies than that an atheist does."<ref>Hitchens, Christopher. ''Mortality''. New York: [[Hachette Book Group|Twelve]] (2012), p. 91.</ref>

===The Hitchens Prize===
In 2015, an annual prize of $50,000 was established in his honour by The Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation for "an author or journalist whose work reflects a commitment to free expression and inquiry, a range and depth of intellect, and a willingness to pursue the truth without regard to personal or professional consequence". The foundation's website states the Hitchens Prize "seeks to advance what he was dedicated to throughout his life: vigorous, honest, and open public debate and discussion, with no tolerance of orthodoxy, no reverence for authority, and a belief in reasoned dialogue as the best path to the truth". The 2024 winner was [[Errol Morris]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dvrf.org/hitchens-prize/|title=About|website=DVRF – The Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation|access-date=27 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195218/http://www.dvrf.org/hitchens-prize/|archive-date=28 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Film and television appearances==

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Year
! Film, DVD, or TV episode
|-
|rowspan="2"|1984
|align="left"|''[[Opinions (TV series)|Opinions]]'': "Greece to their Rome"
|-
|align="left"|''[[Firing Line (TV program)|Firing Line]]'': "Is There a Liberal Crack-Up?"
|-
|1989
|align="left"|''[[Frontiers (1989 TV series)|Frontiers]]'': "Cyprus: Stranded in Time"
|-
|rowspan="2"|1993
|align="left"|''Everything You Need to Know''
|-
|align="left"|''The [[Opinions (TV series)|Opinions]] Debate''<ref>''The Opinions Debate'', transmitted by [[Channel 4]] on 28 March 1993 (the eve of the 50th birthday of the then Prime Minister [[John Major]])</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"|1994
|align="left"|''Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography of Margaret Thatcher''
|-
|align="left"|[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|''Hell's Angel'' (documentary)]]
|-
|1996
|align="left"|''[[Where's Elvis This Week?]]''
|-
|1996–2010
|align="left"|''[[Charlie Rose (talk show)|Charlie Rose]]'' (13 episodes)
|-
|rowspan="2"|1998
|align="left"|''Real Stories: Diana: The Mourning After''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954382/|title=Diana: The Mourning After|date=25 January 1998|via=imdb.com|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210141030/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954382/|archive-date=10 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|align="left"|''[[Uncommon Knowledge]]'': "The Sixties"
|-
|1999–2001
|align="left"|''Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher''
|-
|1999–2002
|align="left"|''[[Dennis Miller Live]]'' (TV show; 4 episodes)
|-
|2000
|align="left"|''The Other Side: Hitch Hike''
|-
|2002
|align="left"|''[[The Trials of Henry Kissinger]]''
|-
|2003
|align="left"|''Hidden in Plain Sight''
|-
|2003–09
|align="left"|''[[Real Time with Bill Maher]]'' (TV show; 6 episodes)
|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|align="left"|''Mel Gibson: God's Lethal Weapon''
|-
|align="left"|''Texas: America Supersized''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4439840/|title=Texas: America Supersized|date=8 August 2004|via=imdb.com|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212211008/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4439840/|archive-date=12 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|2004–06
|align="left"|''[[Newsnight]]'' (TV show; 3 episodes)
|-
|2004–10
|align="left"|''[[The Daily Show]]'' (TV show; 4 episodes)
|-
|rowspan="4"|2005
|align="left"|''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]'' (TV show; 1 episode, s03e05)
|-
|align="left"|''[[The Al Franken Show]]'' (Radio show; 1 episode)
|-
|align="left"|''Confronting Iraq: Conflict and Hope''
|-
|align="left"|''[[Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism]]''
|-
|2005–08
|align="left"|''[[Hardball with Chris Matthews]]'' (TV show; 3 episodes)
|-
|rowspan="2"|2006
|align="left"|''[[American Zeitgeist]]''

|-
|align="left"|''Blog Wars''
|-
|rowspan="8"|2007
|align="left"|''[[Manufacturing Dissent]]''
|-
|align="left"|''[[Question Time (TV series)|Question Time]]'' (1 episode)
|-
|align="left"|''[[Your Mommy Kills Animals]]''
|-
|align="left"|''Personal Che''
|-
|align="left"|''[[Heckler (film)|Heckler]]''
|-
|align="left"|''In Pot We Trust''
|-
|align="left"|''[[Hannity's America]]''
|-
|align="left"|''[[In Depth]]'' (C-Span2 [[Book TV]])
|-
|rowspan="3"|2008
|align="left"|''Can Atheism Save Europe?'' (DVD; 9 August 2008 debate with [[John Lennox]] at the [[Edinburgh International Festival]])
|-
|align="left"|''Discussions with Richard Dawkins'': Episode 1: "The Four Horsemen" (DVD; 30 September 2007)
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed]]''
|-
|rowspan="6"|2009
|align="left"|''Holy Hell'' (Chap. 5 in 6 Part Web Film on [[iTunes]])<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cangialosi|first=Jason|title=Interview with 'Holy Hell' Filmmaker Rafael Antonio Ruiz|url=http://voices.yahoo.com/holy-hell-full-series-free-itunes-feb-1-3-2013-11998272.html?cat=40|publisher=Yahoo! Inc.|access-date=1 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530170529/http://voices.yahoo.com/holy-hell-full-series-free-itunes-feb-1-3-2013-11998272.html?cat=40|archive-date=30 May 2013}}</ref>
|-
|align="left"|''God on Trial'' (DVD; September 2008 debate with [[Dinesh D'Souza]])
|-
|align="left"|''President: A Political Road Trip''
|-
|align="left"|''[[Collision (2009 film)|Collision: "Is Christianity GOOD for the World?"]]'' (DVD; Fall 2008 debates with [[Douglas Wilson (theologian)|Douglas Wilson]])
|-
|align="left"|''Does God Exist?'' (DVD; 4 April 2009 debate with [[William Lane Craig]])
|-
|align="left"|''Fighting Words''<ref>{{Cite web|date=25 January 2018|title=Fighting Words|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430085/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011153547/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430085/|archive-date=11 October 2017|access-date=1 July 2018|via=imdb.com}}</ref> (TV movie; 2009)
|-
|rowspan="2"|2010
|align="left"|''[[Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune]]''
|-
|align="left"|''The God Debates, Part I: A Spirited Discussion'' (DVD; debate with [[Shmuley Boteach]]; Host: Mark Derry; Commentary: Miles Redfield)
|-
|rowspan="4"|2011
|align="left"|''Is God Great?'' (DVD; 3 March 2009 debate with [[John Lennox]] at [[Samford University]])
|-
|align="left"|''92Y: Christopher Hitchens'' (DVD; 8 June 2010 dialogue with [[Salman Rushdie]] at [[92nd Street Y]])
|-
|align="left"|''[[Lateline|ABC Lateline]]''<ref>{{cite web|url =http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s3070595.htm|title=ABC Lateline interview: Hitchens stares death in the eye – Part 2|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=19 November 2010|access-date=10 August 2012|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111130120407/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s3070595.htm|archive-date=30 November 2011|url-status=live
}}</ref> (TV show, 2 episodes)
|-
|align="left"|''Texas Freethought Convention'' (DVD; 8 October 2011 Recipient of Richard Dawkins Award, final public appearance)
|-
||2013
|align="left"|''Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745710/|title=Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia|date=1 February 2015|via=imdb.com|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430182219/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745710/|archive-date=30 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> (DVD Documentary)
|-
||2015
|align="left"|''[[Best of Enemies (2015 film)|Best of Enemies]]'' (Posthumous release)
|}

==Books==
{{Main|Christopher Hitchens bibliography}}

[[File:Christopher Hitchens reading his book Hitch 22.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1| Hitchens reading his memoir ''[[Hitch-22: A Memoir|Hitch-22]]'' (2010)]]
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger |edition=3rd |year=1997 |orig-date=1984|location=London |publisher=Verso |isbn=1859841899|oclc=37902807 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sw1NA9bFmrYC }}
* {{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles |year=1987 |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=0809041898|oclc=17764901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FEFjQgAACAAJ }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Said |editor-first=Edward W. |editor-last2=Hitchens| editor-first2 =Christopher |title=Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question |year=2001|orig-date=1988 |publisher=Verso |isbn=1859843409|oclc=47969559 |location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports |orig-date=1988|year=2014 |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=978-0809078677 |edition=1st |location=New York|oclc=1012775824}}
* {{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favorite Fetish |year=1990 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=978-0701135553|oclc= |location=London}}
* 1990: ''[[Blood, Class, and Nostalgia|Blood, Class and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies]]'', Farrar Straus & Giroux (T), {{ISBN|978-0374114435}}
* 1993: ''For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports'', Verso, {{ISBN|0860914356}}
* 1995: ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice]]'', Verso
* 1997: ''The Parthenon Marbles: The Case for Reunification'', Verso, {{ISBN|1786631822}}
* 1999: ''[[No One Left to Lie To|No One Left to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family]]'', original hardcover title: ''No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton'', Verso
* 2000: ''[[Unacknowledged Legislation|Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere]]'', Verso, ISBN 9781859847862
* 2001: ''[[The Trial of Henry Kissinger]]'', Verso, {{ISBN|1859843980}}
* 2001: ''[[Letters to a Young Contrarian]]'', Basic Books
* 2002: ''[[Left Hooks, Right Crosses: A Decade of Political Writing]]'', Bold Type Books, {{ISBN|1560254092}}
* 2002: ''[[Why Orwell Matters|Orwell's Victory]]'', Allen Lane/Penguin Press, {{ISBN|0-713-99-584-X}} (UK Edition). US edition as ''[[Why Orwell Matters]]'', Basic Books, {{ISBN|0-465-03050-5}}
* 2003: ''[[A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq]]'', Plume/Penguin Group, {{ISBN|0452284988}}
* 2004: ''[[Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays]]'', Thunder's Mouth, Nation Books, {{ISBN|1560255803}}
* 2005: ''[[Thomas Jefferson: Author of America]]'', Eminent Lives/Atlas Books/HarperCollins Publishers, {{ISBN|0060598964}}
* 2007: ''[[Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man": A Biography|Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography]]'', Atlantic Monthly Press, {{ISBN|0871139553}}
* 2007: ''[[God Is Not Great]]: How Religion Poisons Everything'', Twelve/Hachette Book Group USA/Warner Books, {{ISBN|0446579807}} / Published in the UK as ''God is not Great: The Case Against Religion'', Atlantic Books, {{ISBN|978-1843545866}}
* 2007: ''[[The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer]]'', [Editor] Perseus Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0306816086}}
* 2008: ''Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq and the Left'' (with [[Simon Cottee]] and Thomas Cushman), New York University Press, {{ISBN|0814716873}}
* 2008: ''Is Christianity Good for the World?'' (co-author, with [[Douglas Wilson (theologian)|Douglas Wilson]]), [[Canon Press]], {{ISBN|1591280532}}
* 2010: ''[[Hitch-22: A Memoir]]'', Twelve, {{ISBN|978-0446540339}} {{oclc|464590644}}
* 2011: ''[[Arguably|Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens]]'', Twelve. UK edition as ''Arguably: Selected Prose'', Atlantic, {{ISBN|978-1455502776}}
* 2012: ''[[Mortality (book)|Mortality]]'', Twelve, {{ISBN|978-1455502752}}. UK edition as ''Mortality'', Atlantic Books, {{ISBN|978-1848879218}}
* 2015: ''And Yet...: Essays'', Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-1476772066}}
* 2024: ''A Hitch in Time: Reflections Ready for Reconsideration'', Twelve, {{ISBN|978-1538757659}}
<ref name="Gardner-2024">{{cite news |last=Garner |first=Dwight|author-link=Dwight Garner |orig-date=1 January 2024 |date=17 January 2024 |title=Want to feel, intellectually, like someone is rotating your tires? |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |type=book review |quote=This bracing anthology {{small|{{grey|[''A Hitch in Time: Reflections Ready for Reconsideration'']}}}} of Christopher Hitchens's work for [[The London Review of Books]] is just the ticket. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/books/review/hitch-in-time-christopher-hitchens.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 February 2024 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240101164006/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/books/review/hitch-in-time-christopher-hitchens.html |archive-date=1 January 2024 }}</ref>
{{refend}}

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|99em}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{subject bar|auto=y|d=y|Religion|Biography|LGBTQ|United Kingdom}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101212083433/http://hitchensweb.com/ 2010 archive of official website]
* [https://christopherhitchens.net/ Memorial webpage]
* [https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/christopher-hitchens Contributor page] at ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]''
* [https://slate.com/author/christopher-hitchens Columnist] at ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]''
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/author/christopher-hitchens/ Column archive] at ''[[The Atlantic]]''
* [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/christopherhitchens Article archive] at ''[[The Guardian]]''
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{NYTtopic|new_id=person/christopher-hitchens}}
* {{C-SPAN|2977}}
* {{IMDb name|0386899}}

{{Christopher Hitchens}}
{{New Atheism}}
{{Portal bar|Religion|Biography|LGBTQ|United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchens, Christopher}}
[[Category:Christopher Hitchens| ]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century British essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century English journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:21st-century American essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century American journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:21st-century American philosophers]]
[[Category:21st-century British essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century English journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century English memoirists]]
[[Category:21st-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:20th-century atheists]]
[[Category:21st-century atheists]]
[[Category:Alcohol-related deaths in Texas]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:American anti-capitalists]]
[[Category:American anti-fascists]]
[[Category:American anti-Zionists]]
[[Category:American atheism activists]]
[[Category:American bisexual writers]]
[[Category:American critics of religions]]
[[Category:American critics of creationism]]
[[Category:American democratic socialists]]
[[Category:American foreign policy writers]]
[[Category:American humanists]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American media critics]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American skeptics]]
[[Category:American writers on atheism]]
[[Category:Anti-monarchists]]
[[Category:Atheist philosophers]]
[[Category:The Atlantic (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Bisexual male writers]]
[[Category:British anti-Zionists]]
[[Category:British anti–Vietnam War activists]]
[[Category:British atheism activists]]
[[Category:British critics of Christianity]]
[[Category:British critics of Islam]]
[[Category:British critics of postmodernism]]
[[Category:British critics of religions]]
[[Category:British foreign policy writers]]
[[Category:British media critics]]
[[Category:British opinion journalists]]
[[Category:British philosophers of culture]]
[[Category:British philosophers of religion]]
[[Category:Conversationalists]]
[[Category:Criticism of United States foreign policy|*]]
[[Category:Critics of alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Critics of Buddhism]]
[[Category:Critics of creationism]]
[[Category:Critics of Islamism]]
[[Category:Critics of Judaism]]
[[Category:Critics of multiculturalism]]
[[Category:Critics of new religious movements]]
[[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer in Texas]]
[[Category:English anti-fascists]]
[[Category:English communists]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:English essayists]]
[[Category:English humanists]]
[[Category:English LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:English literary critics]]
[[Category:English male essayists]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English Marxists]]
[[Category:English people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:English political commentators]]
[[Category:English political philosophers]]
[[Category:English political writers]]
[[Category:English republicans]]
[[Category:English sceptics]]
[[Category:English writers on atheism]]
[[Category:European democratic socialists]]
[[Category:Genital integrity activists]]
[[Category:Jewish American journalists]]
[[Category:Jewish British journalists]]
[[Category:Jewish American atheism activists]]
[[Category:Jewish American anti-Zionists]]
[[Category:Jewish British anti-Zionists]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) people]]
[[Category:Materialists]]
[[Category:The Nation (U.S. magazine) people]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:New Atheism]]
[[Category:New Statesman people]]
[[Category:PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award winners]]
[[Category:People educated at Mount House School, Tavistock]]
[[Category:People educated at The Leys School]]
[[Category:Philosophers of literature]]
[[Category:Philosophers of social science]]
[[Category:Philosophers of war]]
[[Category:Secular humanists]]
[[Category:Slate (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Socialist Workers Party (UK) members]]
[[Category:Theorists on Western civilization]]
[[Category:Vanity Fair (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Writers about activism and social change]]
[[Category:Writers about globalization]]
[[Category:Writers about religion and science]]
[[Category:Writers from Portsmouth]]
[[Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.]]