thomas paine rights of man. the missionary position. the essential on - - the portable atheist. christopher hitchens has been our guest for the last three hours. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> three years later he will an autobiography and we had a chance to sit down with him in new york city to talk about hitch 22.

>> so talked you into doing an autobiography? >> in the catalog a couple years ago and then with christopher hitchens and then said don't worry we will record and i said no. i went several copies nothing focuses the mind. and then asked to do a memoir if it would be too early. so there was that. so i didn't much mind being 40

i barely noticed it at 50 and that i was looking backwards quite a lot. >>host: why hitch 22? >> describing a lot of commitments in my life that i've taken part in and against purity and consistency for any ideological grouping and with that uncertainty principle so hitch 22 is my commitment to doubt so that's the idea so there are some word games and

that are schoolboy humor but then by someone like salman rushdie. and for whom the bell rings for example were doctor zhivago. . . . .

with this relationship. >> for a novelist, the humor, and is written in novels about the holocaust. in these books are written with his best memoirs. and it's anglo american to generously and at the cusp of 1918. in which i appear once.

>> it is my best friend. and this book is basically about his interest. i see the chapter, the question on friday answer is can you have a relationship with another guy. i don't know whether you can or not. i discovered this with my writing. the way in which we used to have very long conversations. this is about women. [inaudible]. and i'm not sure how you can make lead into gold. and terrible things in new york.

which he had to go to, his character and money, had to go through this. it was most intensely thought of. it is shameful really. you can read it in cnnmoney printed to get that reference printed. [inaudible]. but when i read that, i thought well, you can explore the misery. actually you can find that there. [inaudible]. the great source of enthusiasm. that was strong in my life. and you dedicate the book to him.

james? christopher: he changed my life. in the late 60s. we were exact contemporaries printed he was easily defined as a poet writing in english. and best known, for what he wrote about china. it's a surprising thing when you think about it printed by the vietnam war. and what he knows. it was written by james. and he as well as the brothers, mother journalist then printed i used to think that the chances were good of how well i they that the arguments and have that i make the right wing look. now match the arguments.

in the james might be very much for the left. how the article was written. making every word count printed using irony is an understatement and humor. wesley even wrote a couple of these together. he was immensely influential on me in the way. you find me boring without that. >> peter. suet yes. he was an intellectual. a very rare find. he was one of those people that the left is the left. very much from the 60s. they were being entering names.

when is beginning to start by writings. [inaudible]. he was a scientist. and a psychiatrist printed he believed in objectivity. he was not easily swayed. he introduced me to marcus way of writing. george george well. the west indian historian dora the best really the only book on the revolution, fantastic book. it also incidentally the best on cricket. that was the thing about these people they can do indi.

[inaudible]. is some way of a revival and in the 60s. host: would about him. assume. christopher: i was just getting to know him and i was becoming a friend of his when he suddenly became even more famous than he thought he was going to become. even wel more well known in his writings. and i gave him an incredibly bad review. and not to contend with the bread review. offered money in his own name. for if someone's murder. an unbelievable attack on civilization. so for many years he had to go into hiding. and be off the map. and there were a number of us who were afraid that time. we kept in touch with him and

kept up his spirit printed nothing would finding and kill him. but he couldn't write. turns out that he could write a lot. is a figure of the century of the idea of the intellectual person of two continents. result only his second language. he a rights, really better than most. as i say, he usually improves the level of boorish work. i'll give you an example. without any preparation, what would a shakespeare play, i won't tell you how that all came up to take so long. the naming of shakespeare.

and someone said okay fine. okay hamlet. he said, just like that. unbelievably fast. i dare say, that the name of d4 station. [inaudible]. just like that. there's more the book. he has a real poll on english literature. he really knows it. in addition, if that weren't enough he has become one of the great symbolic figures which never ends. we note that we wouldn't have to depend to get such an incredibly fundamentally but, i think when

it did. [inaudible]. shortly after 911, i realize that i've been living in the states for a long time, more than two decades, nearly three printed at a great talk, a platinum pre- party might say. and i had three of my children, and american life. silica got deported. and i had a passport. i could've gone on like that heavily being an american. for the rest of my days but i thought i was sort of cheating on reduce. i really thought i should be part of the american society after that.

i began to feel much more like an american. in washington was like my face. it sidelined. sort of hard do the paperwork these days printed they kept making appointments and breaking them and putting them off. and i think they even sit down and giving the exam which i believe even cup the answers in it. some of them were rather trivial. like what you do to become an american citizen printed do you want to be something noble. you can apply for job at the federal government you can bring your relatives in.

[inaudible]. and then they turn to be funny, i think the answer is, royal family in britain. the british. [inaudible]. but i started out the night before, not in any exam. but i just sort of broke bread through the constitution. and there's a section in there about how you can read off the oral history of america by looking at the dates of those amendments. the ways in which they came about. it does demonstrate progress but sometimes you wonder about its. a second, shows why is such a great country based on swiss documents which are literally there in order to or for a

rewrite, they can be revised. the words, the music of the words of the meaning of them printed the legality of them are very important. this unique privilege think. then i was able by good luck to get my family at the jefferson memorial in washington dc. on his birthday. which is also mine. and wrote a biography of that predict and also on religious freedom which is one of the four things that he wanted to be remembered for. that was a wonderful day really was. host: another name. christopher: thank you's coming up. he didn't write about this.

to the occasion of enormous number of female authors. [inaudible]. i did just write a chapter about my mother's - reflections on her. but the mystery keeps coming up in that. and then in one of her most famous lines, he describes the family coming from democratic depressive times. the german polish border land. and it so happens is where my mother's family comes from. it was a secret kept in my family for a long time. i didn't find out until it was about 30. the my mother's family was of jewish descent what is now germany. so is very horrible the border

moved, terrible things happen the border changes. and i have a chance will i think that it is that she kept it a secret from my father. she died before we had the conversation. and i would go to find the old place. see if i can find a place that anybody would know. but they're all dead. they were all murdered. the manic depressive family becomes very live to be in that trip. host: peter. christopher: my younger brother. i used it not noticing things about birth order. i think it's quite important

actually. fairbrother is actually 18 months and with me. he's too close to be the baby brother. but close enough to be rival. imagine how i must've felt. i can believe it. and his siblings, we probably lived in the same town. [inaudible]. is a very world well-known newspaper columnist in england. is also very well-known as a christian believer. that is even written a book that i hope you'll do something about it. it's overage about god.

and how he was led into faith. [inaudible]. in part is an extended dialogue for me in my younger years. and for me the biggest different i could have with anyone is all political distances, warped by the differences between those who believe in supernatural dimension like him. and those who do not. that's where philosophy begins. and also biology begins as well. so is a writer. he's very serious person. a bit more solemn than me perhaps. my say right-wing, in other words he would regard things for instance as the left right one and i would have wrong because in my experience.

[inaudible]. and large numbers of the american right the so-called realist were generally against this. [inaudible]. there is a force in britain which my brother is a part printed and at one point he actually says, thorn afghanistan sort of the stupid left-wing wars. it really sounds like my brother. and there's more than that. the chief that if you made if not in favor of them, which at always find interesting. [inaudible]. host: in the bank your book, are there typical blurbs that the book would have. christopher says that the greatest living essayist in the

english language. if you wish to nominate a successor he writes that character, i have decided to name christopher hitchens, that's all they are. this marked out. christopher: we took that back. the very big falling out and i left. it's disgraceful in which the administration would take part. [inaudible]. and so, he made a cover and a one point he would seem to suggest that i had made the statement up printed in a range it seems to me he was taking a back. so i said i'll take it back myself. he had said, i think you should

have one. host: chris. christopher: yes, my ugly younger brother. i tried to obliterate him. my mother hated this. it's pretty vulgar. chris is a nice name. i wish you wouldn't. [inaudible]. we compromised on that. actually in america, he was fantastically friendly. and then to shorten them almost even more friendly almost before he got to know them. use going to sound like a snob.

or somebody making friendly advances was a constant battle for him. i think now i've won it because it is incumbent chris anymore. nobody who knows me at all does. but anyway, the last printed which is the other reason for the title. and i discovered when i went my father naval reunion pretty took me to a reunion with his old shipmates years ago before he died. ruth touchingly. his last reunion they would ever have. i had never known that before, hitch. says another reason, another fold or wrinkle in the title. host: what was the process of writing a memoir like for you. christopher: it was a bit harder

than i expected it to be. i thought why was it giving me a hard time. usually when a right i'm fascinated. or it's an argument. most of the time. release i know exactly when doing. with this, i'm not making an argument. i started writing. then again, i would only be trying to see how much i think packet to give it a number of words. 5000 or so. or long essay bobby 9000. how much you can press into this. when you try to remember things. like me, you very good memory.

you may well find that you're remembering more than you thought you would. no musket this town. something start to balloon. that was no difficult thing for me. interning almost twice as much to the publisher. which they asked for and never done that before. and then, they didn't know how it would end. for how to end it traded at a very hard time wrapping it up printed didn't really know when i was done. in fact i'm not done. every day i woke up thinking, i should put that in. or i should put that differently. something that i remembered but is too late printed now. it gives me a boost brady is a good thing. you don't want to book to be totally dull. if you're still writing it in your head.

host: memoir. sueshortly after the appearancen new york city in 2010, christopher hitchens was diagnosed with cancer. he joined us one more time and this was our q&a program from january 2011, talking about his life and his work. christopher hitchens. i just checked and i interviewed utah 20 times since 1983 and a mess and this is one of the hardest. because you haven't been well. sue and not very well printed. host: what is the current status of your cancer printed. christopher: i have a tumor in my esophagus. as metastasized and spread to my lymph nodes. and i'm afraid it's on my long. and it's a stage four. and the thing to note about stage iv is there's no hope except stage five. so it is concentrated.

but i have