Author Christopher Hitchens died on December 15, 2011 at the age of 62, after a battle with esophageal cancer, CBS News is reporting. The columnist and literary critic’s death was announced in Vanity Fair, one of the magazines he wrote for. The statement added that he died of pneumonia at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Hitchens, who waged battle on behalf of left and right causes, rose to fame in 2007, after he released the provocative best-seller ‘God is Not Great.’ The book served as a manifesto for atheists, and defied the recent trend of religious works.
The writer continued to contribute articles to such publications as Slate, The Atlantic and World Affairs, even after he announced his diagnosis in June 2010. In an essay that appeared in Vanity Fair in August 2010, Hitchens wrote “I love the imagery of struggle. I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.”
Hitchens also made news for being a militant humanist who believed in racial justice and freedom of speech. He also stood behind the willingness to stand the consequences of one’s actions.
Hitchens’ essays were compiled in such books as ‘For the Sake of Argument’ and ‘Prepared for the Worst.’ His latest collection of essays, ‘Arguably,’ was released in September 2011, and he was working on a book-length meditation on malady and mortality. Hitchens is survived by his second wife, author Carol Blue, and his three children, Alexander, Sophia and Antonia.
Written by: Karen Benardello
