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Hitch 22: A Memoir, by Christopher Hitchens
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#1 New York Times bestselling author and finalist for the National Book Award — one of the most admired and controversial public intellectuals of our time — shares his personal life story.
Most who have observed Christopher Hitchens over the years would agree that he possesses a ferocious intellect and is unafraid to tackle the most contentious subjects. Now 60, English-born and American by adoption; all atheist and partly Jewish; bohemian (even listing "drinking" along with "disputation" as "hobbies" in Who's Who), he has held to a consistent thread of principle whether opposing war in Vietnam or supporting intervention in Iraq. As a foreign correspondent in some of the world's nastiest places, a lecturer and teacher and an esteemed literary critic, Hitchens manifests a style that is at once ironic, witty, and tough-minded. A legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for literature, he has sometimes ridiculed those who claim that the personal is political, though he has often seemed to illustrate that very idea. Readers will find that his own many opposites attract, as do his many sketches of friendship and ex-friendship, from Martin Amis to Noam Chomsky. Condemned to be able to see both sides of any argument, Christopher Hitchens has contradictions that contain their own multitudes.
- Sales Rank: #7514573 in Books
- Published on: 2010
- Format: International Edition
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.21" h x 1.30" w x 6.18" l, 1.10 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 352 pages
From Bookmarks Magazine
Christopher Hitchens stands alone among 20th- and 21st-century pundits for his enthusiastic enmity and political flip-flopping, but while he makes no apologies for his beliefs, he does acknowledge their intrinsic contradictions. Critics praised Hitchens's frankness in sharing the details of his mother's suicide and of his breezy bisexuality, but they simultaneously balked at his decision to omit significant people and events (i.e., his wives, his children, and his role in Bill Clinton's impeachment). They also objected to his relentless name-dropping and some overly dense prose, and a few were appalled that Hitchens would continue to insist that Saddam Hussein did indeed possess WMDs. Despite these complaints, Hitch-22 is a sharp, rebellious, and sometimes bawdy account of the making of a modern mastermind.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Hitchens, who, in his earlier books, has expressed contempt for both God and Mother Teresa (although not in that order), is often described as a contrarian. In fact, in his book Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001), he himself noted that he “can appear insufferable and annoying,” albeit without intending to. This memoir, bracing, droll, and very revealing, gives him yet another description: storyteller. He writes with a voice you can hear clearly, warmed by smoke and whiskey, and draws readers into his story, which proves as personal as it is political. As with many memoirs, it is not the public moments that are so fascinating, though there are plenty of those. Hitchens takes readers with him to Havana and Prague, Afghanistan and Iraq; tests himself by being waterboarded (he was disappointed in his early capitulation); and hobnobs with politicians and poets. He almost gets himself beaten up by defacing a poster in Iraq with a Hitler mustache. But the most intriguing stories are the personal ones, both from his early days, at home and at boarding school, and from his later life, when he learns that his mother was Jewish, which, if only technically, makes him Jewish as well. This revelation leads Hitchens on a quest to learn the story of his family, many of whom died in the Holocaust. How this new identity squares with his oft-proclaimed atheism sheds a different light on the meaning of religious identity. (He struggles mightily with his political identity as well.) Few authors can rile as easily as Hitchens does, but even his detractors might find it difficult to put down a book so witty, so piercing, so spoiling for a fight. He makes you want to be as good a reader as he is a writer. --Ilene Cooper
Review
"[Hitch-22] is a memoir that should be given to high school and college students of a literary bent. In the age of the Internet and the academy, it will open up different models for how to be a thoughtful person, how to engage in political life and what sort of things one should know in order to be truly educated." The New York Times
"As contemptuous, digressive, righteous, and riotously funny as the rest of the author's incessant output, this memoir is an effective coming-of-age story, regardless of what one may think of the resulting adult...Hitchens paints a credible and even affecting self-portrait." The New Yorker
"In this frank, often wickedly funny account, Hitchens traces his evolution as a fiercely independent thinker and enemy of people who are convinced of their absolute certainty.... Revealing and riveting." (Kirkus Review)
"Few writers can match his cerebral pyrotechnics. Fewer still can emulate his punch as an intellectual character assassin. It is hard not to admire the sheer virtuosity of his prose.... With Hitchens one simply goes along for the ride. The destination hardly matters." The Financial Times
"A fat and juicy memoir of a fat and juicy life." The Washington Post
"With the possible exception of Tom Wolfe and Maureen Dowd's, Christopher Hitchens' marvelous byline is the most archly kinetic in current-day American letters. Every article, review and essay has the romantic whiff of a durable vintage. You might disagree with him. You might question his motives. But not for a second will you ever be bored." The Los Angeles Times
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
"Perhaps the finest living essayist in the English language"
By Douglas K. Pinner
High praise indeed from none other than Christopher Buckley but an accolade well warranted.Wit,intelligence,honesty,a master of the appropriate obscure word or phrase,also a partisan polemicist of the far left,atheist,outrageously anti religious,but surprisingly non doctrinaire,in short a complex and fascinating mind.Full disclosure... I am totally on the other end of the political,cultural,and metaphysical spectrum and my life encompassed the same period and yet have always been an admirer even when outraged at his positions in that they are always reasoned from his own integrity ,much as I admire Camille Paglia on a likewise ambivalent basis.In reading some of the negative reviews the term 'name dropper' was cast. Well what is a memoir but a compilation of one man's trials,victories and the cast of characters that formed his life. And what a cast it was.And what a period of national and international upheaval.Ironically and sadly publication of his bio coincided with the news of his probably terminal cancer.True to character,that too is grist for the mill of this clear eyed mordant thinker as he describes that last journey beginning with his first essay "Topic of Cancer" .Read this only if you can be open to a mind with contradictory facets but one totally engaged with life and events and an unmatched command of the languge.A fun and fascinating read from an impressive mind .
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Yours fraternally...
By Amazon17
Christopher Hitchens used to emphasize his love of irony. Reading through the new preface, which was written after his cancer diagnosis, it all feels ironic -- but perhaps a better fitting word is tragic.
The book’s initial pages reflect a powerful introspection regarding death, dying, and the glee of mortality -- even before his diagnosis. It’s clear that Hitchens simply wanted to pack as many years into whatever life he had. With that goal in mind, it seems he succeeded.
His prose offers a glimpse into a genius writer. I’m not sure I’ve ever read more eloquent words. Hitchens’ memoir shows a grace for others, contempt for banality, and a self-effacing eloquence. At times, the memoir reads like a collection of markers, keystones, and memorials. His name dropping is sort of frustrating, as a young reader/writer -- unexposed to this culture. But it also provides inspiration for further reading. The network and milieu that Hitchens built was legendary; it included everyone from Ian McEwan to Salman Rushdie to Martin Amis.
Christopher appears to acknowledge much of his upbringing, and the inherent class that Yvonne (his mother) insisted on the family. From his preference for a full name “Christopher” -- not “Chris” -- to the formality in speech, class was a resounding focal point in his development.
There were two points of contention for me. First, Hitchens barely mentioned his intimate relationships or children. It’s unclear to me how such a great writer could unconsciously pass this up. This leads me to believe the Hitchens consciously avoided the topic of his descendants and relationships. Why? One can only imagine now. Second, Hitchens embraced America as the "land of opportunity" and emigrated from the United Kingdom. While he talks about the issues of immigration to America, with a nod to those less fortunate, I found that he was rather absent on the acknowledgement of powerful economic inequalities and racial tensions that are very present in the U.S.
Those tidbits aside, this is a masterpiece. I miss Hitchens’ writing dearly, and will certainly return to this memoir at a later date.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
A Former Trotskyite Reflects on his Life in America and around the World
By Ted Marks
Christopher Hitchens, once the "enfant terrible" of the international hard left, has written a memorable memoir, HITCH-22, that is at once pretentious, bombastic, self indulgent, sometimes petulant -- and often brilliant. Much in Hitchens' book is laugh out loud funny as he takes one pot shot after another at his old political allies and enemies. And for someone with Hitchens' wit and writing facility, taking down his enemies with the written word is like shooting the proverbial fish in a barrel.
On a more serious note, Hitchens explains how he transformed himself from a London-based Trotskyite commentator into an American immigrant who defends of the allied invasion of Iraq. In fact, Hitchens presents us with a quite sensible defense of George W. Bush's war on terror in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is not an easy book to read, mainly because Hitchens writes in a style that makes clever use of inverted grammer and five and six syllable words as he reaches into his psyche to explain himself. Morever, his views are strongly held, and he doesn't suffer fools with any sympathy for their alleged pigheadedness. On the other hand, this book is a very good read for those who are trying to cope in a world that seems to be spiraling out of control.
Hitchens opens his memoir with a short family history - which may explain a lot about his cynical view of the world. His father was a quite common British Navy officer, while his mother was an immigrant Jew with Polish/Germanic blood. His mother ultimately meets s a tragic fate, while his father lives out his routine life without a clue to the torment of his wife or the intellectual pretensions of his son.
Hitchens was educated at Oxford, where he is exposed to the leftist tendencies of that venerable institution, and he became a self-proclaimed Trotskyite member of the communist party. In his early days, the Vietnam War was the focus of his activism, and he joined the anti-war movement that denigrated capitalistic America. But his intellectual curiosity was too restless for the static Marxist view of the world, and as he witnesses events in eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere, he begins to develop empathy for the free enterprise system that empowers America.
The turning point for Hitchens came on Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan and the Pentagon, costing some 3,000 lives (most of them American) was a revelation for Hitchens. "Before the close of that day, I had deliberately violated the rule that one ought not to let the sun set on one's anger, and had sworn a sort of oath to remain coldly furious until these hateful forces had been brought to a most strict and merciless account."
So Hitchens began to write about the hatefulness of the Islamist jihadists, defending America against those who felt "the chickens had come home to roost."
`I did not intend to be told, I said, that the people of the United States - who included all those toiling in the Pentagon as well as all those, citizens and non-citizens, who had been immolated in Manhattan - had in any sense deserved this or brought it upon themselves," Hitchens writes. "I also tried to give a name to the mirthless, medieval, death-obsessed barbarism that had so brazenly unmasked itself. It was, I said, 'Fascism with an Islamic Face'."
When he decides to become an American, he studies diligently for the citizenship test and passes, of course, with flying colors (Hitchens is a serious student of American history as evidenced by his book, "Thomas Jefferson: Author of America"). By that time he had become an ardent supporter of the incursion into Iraq and he was sworn in at the Jefferson Memorial by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff (talk about clout).
His fondness for America, however, does not extend to American presidents and other national leaders: Lyndon Johnson ("hideous); Richard Nixon ("running a parallel regime of bagmen and wiretappers behind the façade of a legitimate government); Jimmy Carter ("..pious, born again creep); Ronald Reagan ("the carapace of geniality proved to be flaky...the look of senile, shifty malice); George H.W. Bush ("I simply detested the way in which he lied his way as Vice President through the Iran-contra scandal.."); Bill Clinton ("habitual and professional liar"); Curiously, George W. Bush escapes the Hitchen scorn. In an earlier volume ("The Trial of Henry Kissinger," published in 2001) Hitchens developed a full-scale criminal indictment of Henry Kissinger (whom Hitchens describes as"indescribably loathsome" in his memoir) for his conduct of American foreign policy.
In the final chapters of his book, Hitchens shifts the focus to himself. He comes across as a gadfly, of course, but also a wary, skeptical (sometimes cynical) observer of our times whose professional objectives include intense scrutiny of all that is evil in our world.
In an effort to explain himself further, Hitchens fashions for himself a Proustian survey in which his answers are supposed to give us insight into his persona. What we get is a portrait of a conflicted intellectual who takes pride in his knowledge and experiences, but whose most "marked characteristic" is insecurity. He most dislikes stupidity, according to his self-imposed questionnaire, and he most admires both moral and physical courage. His favorite virtue is an appreciation for irony.
It was with a sense of irony then, when Hitchens was approaching 50 years of age, that his younger brother, Peter, discovers that their mother was Jewish, raising the intriguing possibility that they both are Jewish. A self-proclaimed atheist (see his book, "god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"), Hitchens considers, but rejects the prospect of his Jewishness. In doing so, he reveals his contempt for Zionist Israel and its occupation of Palestinian lands. But his awareness of his Jewishness increases his sympathy for the suffering of the "children of Israel" as they seek a homeland. His confliction over his roots thus gives him valuable insights to the current Middle East stalemate between Israeli Zionists and Islam jihadists. Hitchens is clearly sympathetic to the Palestinian movement, but he also thinks that the Jewish people have a right to seek their own identity, preferably somewhere else than on Palestinian soil.
Hitchens illuminates his agony over this dilemma by describing the deterioration of his relationship with his good friend Edward Said, a Palestinian intellectual. Hitchens and Said initially developed a very close relationship, but after Sept. 11, 2001, according to Hitchens, Said started writing anti-American essays and articles, and their relationship started to cool. The relationship was effectively destroyed when Said quoted, without attribution, commentary by Hitchens that he (Said) said was "racist." There could be no greater insult to Hitchens than to be called a racist. He never spoke to Said again.
HITCH-22 is a very good memoir -- it is topical, penetrating, amusing and revealing -- one that is well worth the time and effort to read. The memoir offers an insightful look into the mindset of one of our era's most astute social and political critics.
Postscript: shortly after his memoir was published in the spring of 2010, Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus that had metastasized into his lung and lymph nodes. He underwent chemotherapy and wrote in the September issue of Vanity Fair: "I am quietly resolved to resist bodily as best I can..."
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