Christopher Hitchens passed away on December 15th. Evan Smith interviewed him for Texas Monthly Talks in 2007. Above is the full interview.
Here is what Evan said about him at the time: Christopher Hitchens is, as he was described recently in the New York Times, a “fervid athiest,” and has been since before he even knew to call himself one. And he doesn’t mind saying so…loudly. While the topic of one’s lack of faith would be, for most writers, too sacred a cow to punch, the famously provocative Hitchens has no problem lacing up his gloves for any reason, and oh-boy-has-he-has-done-so in his new book, the rapidly best-selling God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. As the title suggests, the 58-year-old doesn’t hold back in exploring the extent of his contempt for all things spiritual, including religion, organized and otherwise, which he views as a dividing, hectoring, bullying force. Of course, there are those who read Hitchens’ regular columns in Vanity Fair or Slate and see him as a divider, hectorer, and bully himself, and he might not disagree. The native of Portsmouth, England, and graduate of Oxford University has always laid it on the line, damn the consequences, whether the subject is women (whom he has written are not funny), Iraq (he passionately defends the war despite having once been a Marxist), Henry Kissinger (whom he brands a war criminal), or his friend Salman Rushdie (whose death threats by Islamic fundamentalists crystallized for Hitchens the point of view he is now expressing before throngs of fellow nonbelievers all over the country). But he also has a reputation for being hyperintellectual, bitingly witty, and extremely charming, and he did not disappoint when he stopped by for a chat in mid-May. ” – Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 05.24.07
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