Eric Alterman on Christopher Hitchens

Eric Alterman writes a kind of review of Christopher Hitchens’ recent memoir. But mostly he complains about failing to understand his former friend’s political “conversions.” Like this: “How is it that Hitchens could endorse Bush/Cheney in 2004 and Obama/Biden in 2008 without ever admitting that he made a mistake in the interim?” Probably the same way I could. They seemed to be the best (major party) candidates at the time. But this kind of judgment will remain mysterious to one-dimensional political thinkers who can not conceive of the multidimensional world outside of their linear left-right spectrum: a world of ideas and issues judged on their merits, not prejudged according to the demands of a fixed ideology.

Aside from this (and aside from the clumsy writing and misuse of commas by this “Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College”), there are some interesting observations and reminiscences here. There are also what seem like some valuable references—but Alterman leaves us to exercise our Googling skills and guess which results he has in mind, as he doesn’t bother to actually include links or footnotes. Par for the course, I guess.

Update: 30 Sept. 2010

Anyone who willingly links to criticism of his work deserves a nod (especially if it’s my criticism). Although I most certainly never called Prof. Alterman a “moron.”