Hitchen's Legacy & Gospel - Christopher Hitchens Dies BBC NEWS +

CHRISTOPHER Hitchens, the author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes on the left and right and wrote the provocative best-seller God is Not Great, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 62.

Hitchens' death was announced in a statement from Conde Nast, publisher of Vanity Fair magazine.

The statement says he died at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his oesophageal cancer.

A most-engaged, prolific and public intellectual who enjoyed his drink (enough to "to kill or stun the average mule") and cigarettes, he announced in June 2010 that he was being treated for cancer of the oesophagus and cancelled a tour for his memoir Hitch-22.

Hitchens, a frequent television commentator and a contributor to Vanity Fair, Slate and other publications, as well as The Australian, had become a popular author in 2007 thanks to God is Not Great, a manifesto for atheists that defied a recent trend of religious works

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[elmohead]

@MAURICIO4521 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are atheists...

[mrgreyblake]

@MAURICIO4521 Rude behavior turns people off atheism? Saying "...this parasite's death," "...keep dreaming moron" and "Bye loser" is not rude? How are we the rude ones when it's you who's spent the last few days trolling youtube, looking for Hitchens tribute videos to leave mean comments on...?

If Dave Silverman saw no possibilities to change peoples minds about atheism then he wouldn't be president of an organisation trying to change peoples minds about atheism.

[mrface19]

The BBC are fucking morons. He did not move to the right and he was not an alcoholic. Can they not see the difference between somebody that depends on alcohol and somebody who merely enjoys a lot of it?

Pathetic.

[kormastas]

you are over!

[cott2696]

@thedogdaydaz ...healthcare for example and the fact he stopped talking about issues like welfare etc hint at it more.; I suspect he just gave up caring about that whole element of politics entirely though.

[cott2696]

@thedogdaydaz Didn't notice NY actually - meant the line about him calling himself a contrarian, which he made of saying he never actually did, Left/right business is more complex.'Smear' might have been harsh to be fair, although it was quite lazy journalism.I think it's silly to say his stance on Iraq marked a wider idealogical shift. If he did move to the right, it had nothing to do with that, with certain soundbites about

[Willsterdude3000]

I might be overreacting here, but it seemed a bit strange how the reporter said "Hitchens was an Atheist and an Alcoholic". It seems like BBC news is trying to put a negative spin on Atheism.

[ThreeLions89]

Hitchens is still here with his writings. I guess it`s a REAL case of life after death, am I right religious idiots out there?

[shawndimery]

He never described himself as a contrarian! He rejected the term

[superviews1]

i think he was drunk!! he sounds boring and dumd

[thedogdaydaz]

@cott2696 I only got "alcoholic". What were the other 2? I don't think he politically moved to the right, although some people would suggest he did based on his views on Iraq. Also, he moved to Wahington DC, although I believe he spent some time in New York, but that's hardly a smear. Please help.

[cott2696]

I count three smears between 0.16-0.28: see if you can spot them...