Hitch 22: A Memoir
Christopher Hitchens

Keeping the Faith – The booze-soaked prose of this old-school raconteur creates a first-rate memoir. Rather than merely recapping his work to liberate people from tyrannical regimes and religions, Hitchens offers some up-close-and-personal insights into his upbringing (the eldest son of the beguiling Yvonne and the commanding Commander), his friendships (with Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, James Fenton and others), and his political evolution (from something of a Marxist to something of a conservative). The result is an entertaining, provocative tale, complete with contradictions. Hitchens acknowledges a frequent and thoroughly human desire to have things both ways, in more ways than one. I’ve always found Hitchens to be a dexterous and mostly thoughtful writer, and while I certainly don’t agree with him on all political matters, his book reminded me that I don’t even agree with myself 100 percent of the time. The book also sheds light on a larger point: Everyone gets the United States of America they want. Hitchens became a citizen after 9/11, and he proudly carries an unabashed convert’s zeal in believing in the power of America to repair and heal the world. I find this lack of humility in geopolitics to be as equally disturbing and no less threatening than the widespread lack of humility in the world’s religious faiths.