episode 99 - Christopher Hitchens - part 04

Part 1: Author, journalist, and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of numerous books, including the controversial best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and, most recently, Hitch-22: A Memoir. In this, the first part of a two-part interview, Hitchens speaks about his personal life: his education at a British private school and at Oxford University and his parent's mismatched marriage. His discusses his mother's suicide and his discovery after her death that she was Jewish. He also discusses his devotion to progressive causes, his intellectual appreciation of doubt and uncertainty, and his opposition to totalitarianism and all forms of absolutism. On a lighter note, he speaks of his Friday lunches with writer friends, including James Fenton and Martin Amis.
Part 2: Author, journalist, and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of many books, including the controversial best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and, most recently, Hitch-22: A Memoir. In this, the second part of a two-part interview, Hitchens speaks mostly about politics. He notes that he was known for his political militancy during his years at Oxford University, and identifies himself as the product of 1968: an activist during the last gasp of the socialist movement. He speaks critically of Bill Clinton, and admiringly of Margaret Thatcher and Somalian dissident Hirsi Ali. Hitchens discusses his support of the Iraq war and the necessity of overthrowing Saddam Hussein. He also discusses his book, God Is Not Great, and notes that most of the mail he receives in response to his atheism has been positive. He also asserts his respect for Marxism as a viable system for interpreting history.