My Beloved ex-Trotskyist Popinjay

My favorite living writer, Christopher Hitchens, has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. I suppose, with his habits, some form of illness was inevitable. When we met two months ago at NYU, he came out of a lecture hall with a triple of Johnny Walker Black and a cigarette. However, Hitchens won’t be Hitchens without his trademark accessories.

Here are some articles, from a variety of topics, worth noting from him:

A Death in the Family, Vanity Fair

Kissenger Declassified, Vanity Fair

Last Call, Bohemia, Vanity Fair

Assassins of the Mind, Vanity Fair

The Morals of an Atheist, The Hoover Institution

Abolish the CIA, Slate

A Fault is not a Sin, Slate

Reactionary Prophet, The Atlantic

The Wartime Toll on Germany, The Atlantic

In addition, I recommend his weekly column for Slate and all – yes, all – of his books. (Particularly ‘Letters to a Young Contrarian’ and his biography of Thomas Jefferson.) Get better, Hitch.