What Hitchens Taught Me...

Dec 18th, 2011
by. F. Grey Parker

Although I find it unlikely I will add much to the discussion of how the late Christopher Hitchens impacted contemporary critical thinking, I am compelled to thank him publicly for a few things.

I initially encountered his work when I was a decidedly more strident leftist. On my 17th birthday, I received my first subscription to The Nation magazine from my grandmother, a gift which was to become an annual tradition for the remainder of her life. The magazine had many great writers at the time. I was particularly hopeful to find some new and eloquently-raked muck by Alexander Cockburn in each issue. But, it was Hitchens' essays which began to impact me more than those of others.

Worth 1,000 Words

Oct 3rd, 2011

Misappropriating King

Jan 17th, 2011

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.