the first chapter or wrote was about christopher hitchens and i told this book proposal and i said i think i signed the contract in 2006 and i said to my agents to think it's going to take me three or four years and she said you can't publish for two years. i said i will have it for you in 2008 in the back of my head i said 2009, 2010. i had kids and i got a job and i realized how incredibly slower rider i can be and then finally here we are 10 years later with the book. i think the book is a few things at the most basic level it's the story of the six people who went from the left to the right and the progresses roughly chronologically through the 20th century. the first is whittaker chambers who was born in 1901 i believe on april fools' day in 1901. he was a communist writer, communist fiction writer in the late 20s and early 30s. he was hacked by the underground party to be a spy. he ran a number of spy rings in new york before turns into the 30s he had a real crisis, broke with the party, came out the other side for a while and worked for "time" magazine and the road a lot of an

and then david horowitz who i mention it finally christopher hitchens who is somebody who i probably have more of a personal connection to more than anyone else. when i was in college i asked my left-wing father for a subscription to "time" magazine because i wanted to be up on the times. it horrified my dad that i would even want this magazine that he ordered me he said you can have "time" magazine but i'm going to give you the nation as well, the subscription to the magazine and i started reading christopher hitchens and i was just blown away. he was on the left seems to take so much pleasure and acceleration. there was this enormously exciting thing for me. then when he started to move to the right but then after 9/11 and i don't know if you ever went over to the right move to full speed away from the left that was difficult for me. probably half the people in the room have stories of meeting or drinking with christopher hitchens. i never met him in person. but as an intellectual hero and model, his movement was pretty painful for me. so those are the six people in the book and i

ronald reagan and whittaker chambers christopher hitchens david hurwitz and norman podhoretz. at politics and prose in washington, this is about 80 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon everyone. i want to thank you for joining us here at politics and prose bookstore as we embark on yet another wonderful reader. like this time i'd like to remind everyone to silence cell phones. the format for our reading today i will be introducing our delightful offer -- author and he will speak and we will have a question-and-answer session. my name is christopher greggs and i welcome you to politics and prose store on behalf of the owners of politics and present our wonderful staff. the two over 500 events a year. our flagship store and bus boys and poets advance around the city and off-site venues as well. if you would like to follow our reading series feel free to subscribe to our youtube channel or slate podcast and many more events we have done over the years. i will begin by saying i am pleased to introduce daniel oppenheimer as he present his debut "exit right" the peop

. >> c-span: someone who talked about george orwell all the time was late christopher hitchens. let's watch what he says. >> i've been in this career, and one hopes to avoid clichÉs i'm going to try not to mention 1984. but everyone says -- in fact the great thing about it is a clichÉ. >> the same year that 1984 came out it's as if someone gave him the novel in korea. and said do you think wilshire given our best our best shot. >> did you read it? >> guest: most early. i think every kid that grew up in the 1960s red 1984 and animal form. i have read it since it's a great work and christopher hitchens of course was a great writer. >> c-span: where do you do your work from? spee2 i presently live in the berkshires of massachusetts. i spent many years in upstate new york. i work at home, full-time writer. and that's what i do. that's i work on books, articles, films, films, many different types of projects. >> c-span: how long did it take you to put this together? >> guest: i can do think that every book takes a writer his or her whole life to produce. it's not something that peopl

i had this conversation with christopher hitchens on northern turkey 12 years ago.ssion with gideon rose and david goldman. what an interesting week. francine, have a great weekend. one go. francine is joining me on radio, bonus round for me. this is bloomberg. stay with us. ♪ >> rally like it's 1999. all three u.s. maker averages set a record high for the first time since 1999. while european stocks away, there were losses. david: german growth eases. but italy's economy unexpectedly stalled as they prepare for that referendum. alix: and china's recent economic stabilization stumbles in july. retail saless and investment all slows. jonathan: welcome to "bloomberg ." alongside alix steel and david west on. the first time in 17 years, we get to say record, record, record. david: we remember what happened 15 years ago and it didn't work out so well. is this like that or not? alix: and the stock that led the s&p. ralph lauren, retail stocks doing really well this week. retail sales on friday at 8:30. key numbers for g.d.p.