Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Christopher Hitchens, Literary Agent Provocateur

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, many writers and intellectuals offered their prescriptions for how the United States should respond.
Prominent among those intellectuals is British writer Christopher Hitchens. His byline was synonymous with the left, and Hitchens was a longtime columnist for the left-wing magazine, The Nation.
But after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hitchens surprised many of his comrades on the left with his robust support for the Bush administration's war on terrorism. It is a journey that has cost Hitchens friends and allies, and left others wondering how it all happened.
Hitchens is known for his love of cigarettes and alcohol -- and his prodigious literary output. Among his many books and pamphlets, he's written on George Orwell, Marcel Proust, Thomas Jefferson and others.
But he's best known for focusing his unforgiving pen on the likes of Henry Kissinger ("war criminal, liar without conscience, pseudo-scholar, pseudo-academic, pitiless sponsor of dictators abroad"); Mother Teresa ("friend of poverty, enemy of the poor, fundamentalist fanatic"); and Bill Clinton ("a man who was in politics for therapy who wasted eight years of America's time").
Despite the abundance of his copy, his prose usually sparkles, infuriates -- or both. And though he objects to the label, he's often called a contrarian.
For most of his adult life, Hitchens was the designated hitter of the far-left. In 1991, he warned against launching the first Gulf War. No more.
"We now know we're at war today and so do they and they will pay and pay and pay for it," Hitchens says of proponents of what he calls nihilistic Islamism. "They will rue the day when they decided to challenge civilization and democracy and attempt to replace it with theocracy and barbarism."
The pantheon of the living and dead left-intellectuals -- Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Edward Said and others -- found itself in strident disagreement with a former ally.
"It came to a point where it wasn't a difference of emphasis but a real difference of principle," Hitchens says. "I thought the United States should be defended from nihilistic Islamism and they thought it should be criticized for it, and it had brought it on itself. And that's a difference you cannot split."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?