What was Christopher Hitchens's Net Worth?
Christopher Hitchens was a British and American literary critic, political journalist, orator, and author of 18 books focused on faith, culture, and politics who has a net worth of $4 million. Christopher Hitchens was best known for his love of debate, lack of reverence for authority, and blatant criticisms of public figures. Defending his right to have and state his opinions, he once announced that "anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my ass."
Early Years
Christopher Eric Hitchens was born on April 13, 1949, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to Eric Hitchens and Yvonne (Hickman). His parents met while his father was serving in the Royal Navy, and his mother was serving in the Women's Royal Navy. In 1973, his mother engaged in a suicide pact with her lover, former clergyman Timothy Bryan. After renting adjoining hotel rooms, they both overdosed on sleeping pills.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, a co-educational school in Tavistock, Devon, England, and the Lays School, a private institution in Cambridge, England. He graduated from Balliol College in Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, politics, and economics.
Political Correspondence
Christopher Hitchens joined the social democratic Labour Party and the far-left International Socialists in 1965. He then began working as a correspondent for the British-based International Socialism magazine.
In 1971, Hitchens began working as a social science correspondent for the British magazine Times Higher Education Supplement. He was fired after only six months of employment and moved on to working as a researcher for the British television political series "Weekend World." By 1973, he was working as a correspondent on the staff of the British cultural and news magazine New Statesman. Four years later, he was a foreign correspondent for the United Kingdom newspaper Daily Express. In 1978, he returned to the staff of the New Statesman, where he served as assistant editor and foreign editor.
In 1981, the New Statesman and the American monthly magazine The Nation engaged in an editor exchange program. Hitchens then joined the staff of The Nation, for which he wrote until 2002. During this time, he was also working as a contributing editor at the American monthly magazine Vanity Fair.
In 2012, nine months after his death, a seven-part collection of essays about his experience with cancer entitled "Mortality" was published by Vanity Fair magazine.
Christopher Hitchens gave no thought to making enemies and freely wrote and spoke whatever he believed. He publicly referred to American author Gore Vidal as a "crackpot" for his belief in conspiracy theories regarding 9/11. He openly supported the Iraq War, held complex views on abortion, was opposed to gun control, and supported gay marriage. He regarded himself as a socialist, Marxist, and Anti-Zionist and claimed that he had lived as a bi-sexual man while in college.
In 2007, Vanity Fair published one of Hitchens's most controversial articles of his career, entitled "Why Women Aren't Funny."
Hitchens wrote lengthy biographical essays on such historical figures as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Orwell. He also penned critical full-length texts on Mother Theresa, Bill Clinton, and Henry Kissinger.
Hitchens served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh, and the New School of Social Research in New York.
Books
The 18 books authored by Christopher Hitchens include "Hostage to History" from 1984, "Blood, Class and Nostalgia; Anglo-American Ironies" from 1990, "No One Left To Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family" from 1999, and "A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq" from 2003.
In 2007, he published "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," which presents arguments against organized religion, which he referred to as violent, irrational, intolerant, and allied to racism. The title was meant to argue against the Muslim phrase "God is Great." The book attacks Christian evangelist Billy Graham, referring to him as a "disgustingly evil man" and a "self-conscious fraud."
In 2010, Hitchens released his memoir "Hitch-22."
Elements of Style
The style used by Christopher Hitchens in presenting his arguments caused several new phrases to be coined in the world of debate, including "Hitchens Razor" – a general rule he created which states that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence and "Hitchslap" – a carefully created comment intended to humiliate an opponent.
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Television
Over the course of his career, Christopher Hitchens appeared on dozens of television shows, including the British talk show "Opinions" in 1984, 13 episodes of American interview and talk show "Charlie Rose" between 1996 and 2010, six episodes of the American talk show "Real Time with Bill Maher" between 2033 and 2009, four episodes of the late-night talk show "The Daily Show" between 2004 and 2010 and in numerous controversial television documentaries.
Awards & Accolades
In 1991, Christopher Hitchens received a Lannan Literary Award for Non-fiction. In 2005, the American news publication "Foreign Policy" listed him as fifth on the list of "Top 100 Public Intellectuals."
In 2007, Hitchens's columns and commentary in Vanity Fair won the National Magazine Award, and two years later, he was listed by the American business magazine Forbes as one of the 25 most influential liberals in the United States media.
Hitchens won the National Magazine Award for his columns about cancer in 2011. In 2015, a $5,000 annual prize was established in his memory by the Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation for an author or journalist whose work reflects a commitment to free expression and inquiry, a range of depth and intellect, and a willingness to pursue the truth without regard to personal or professional consequence.
Personal Life
In 1981, Christopher Hitchens married Eleni Meleagrou. They had two children together, Alexander and Sophia, and were divorced in 1989. In 1991, he married American screenwriter Carol Blue. They have one child together, daughter Antonia.
In 2007, Hitchens became a United States citizen.
During the summer of 2010, while on a book tour, Hitchens was rushed to an emergency room in New York, suffering from pericardial effusion. It was soon discovered that, after a lifetime of heavy smoking and drinking, he was afflicted with esophageal cancer.
Hitchens died of pneumonia on December 15, 2011, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. It was reported that just before he died, he awoke from a nap and uttered a few inaudible words. Upon being asked to repeat what he said, he replied, "Capitalism. Downfall." As he had requested, his body was donated to medical research.
