Contributing Editor
- Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in September 1992 and writes a monthly column. Hitchens began his journalism career in 1973 as a staff writer at The New Statesman magazine and since then has written for the Evening Standard of London and served as a foreign correspondent for London's Daily Express and as foreign editor of The New Statesman. Hitchens wrote a biweekly column for The Nation from 1982 to 2002. He has also served as Washington editor for Harper's and as U.S. correspondent for The Spectator and The Times Literary Supplement. Additionally, he was the book critic at New York Newsday from 1986 to 1992. Hitchens is the author of numerous books, including Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger (Quartet, 1984), Prepared for the Worst (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988), The Missionary Position (Verso, 1994), No One Left to Lie To (Verso, 1999), The Trial of Henry Kissinger (Verso, 2001), Letters to a Young Contrarian (Basic Books, 2001), and Why Orwell Matters (Basic Books, 2002). He has also written and presented a number of documentaries for British television.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTIAN WITKIN
Christopher Hitchens on Vanityfair.com
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November 04, 2008 5:34 PMPolitics and Power
McCain's Last Campaign Stand
Christopher Hitchens reflects on the closing days of the McCain campaign.
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October 09, 2008Empire Falls
October 2008: Christopher Hitchens on America’s path
The ongoing financial meltdown is just the latest example of a disturbing trend that, to this adoptive American, threatens to put the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave on a par with Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Equatorial Guinea.
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October 02, 2008Dressed for Success
November 2008: Christopher Hitchens on Eton
It looked as if the 60s had ended Eton’s centuries-long dominance over British life. Yet the fabled school, training ground for 18 prime ministers, countless literary greats, and fictional icons such as James Bond and Bertie Wooster, is once again center stage. With a fresh crop of O.E.’s (Old Etonians) on deck, the author takes a fresh look at this bastion of privilege, which may have rebranded itself just in time.
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October 200825th Anniversary
October 2008: Vanity Fair, the Portraits
With the publication of Vanity Fair, The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images, Christopher Hitchens charts the magazine’s omnivorous yet discriminating sensibility, in which personality, style, and wit meet the grittier issues of the day.
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September 2008Mission Accomplished
September 2008: Christopher Hitchens on the limits of self-improvement, part III
As his thoughts turned from vanity to mortality, the author found that a gleaming new smile helped him vanquish his deadliest habit. Wrapping up a year-long overhaul, he gets his locks freshly sculpted by Frédéric Fekkai, then tackles the final frontier: exercise.
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December 2007Vice and Versa
September 2008: Christopher Hitchens on the limits of self-improvement, part III
Continuing his quest for a healthier, more handsome Hitch, the author puts himself in the hands of four experts. Yes, a Brazilian wax was involved.
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October 2007Of Vice and Men
October 2007: Christopher Hitchens on the limits of self-improvement, part I
There's an entire micro-economy based on the pursuit of betterment. The author—58, full-figured, and ferocious in his consumption of cigarettes and scotch—agreed to test its limits, starting with the Executive De-Stress Treatment at a high-end spa.
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May 2000Jazz Sage
May 2005: Christopher Hitchens on The Great Gatsby
First published 75 years ago, The Great Gatsby still has a grip on modern sensibilities even as it stands as the ultimate novel of the Jazz Age. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unflinching farewell to the American Dream lie the shadows of evil yet to come—and a bridge to innocence past.
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August 2008Terror Tactics
August 2008: Christopher Hitchens on waterboarding
What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.
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July 2008Preservation
July 2008: Christopher Hitchens on preserving Greenwich Village
Every successful society needs its Bohemia, a haven for the artists, exiles, and misfits who regenerate the culture. With the heart of New York’s West Village threatened by developers, London, Paris, and San Francisco have a message for Manhattan: Don’t do it!
