Editing Christopher Hitchens (section)

===American writings (1981–2011)===
[[File:Christopher Hitchens, ATF Party 2005.JPG|thumb|Hitchens in 2005]]

Hitchens went to the United States in 1981 as part of an editor exchange programme between the ''[[New Statesman]]'' and ''[[The Nation]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/165318/remembering-hitchens|title=Remembering Hitchens|first=Victor|last=Navasky|author-link=Victor Navasky|work=[[The Nation]]|date=21 December 2011|access-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315045246/http://www.thenation.com/article/165318/remembering-hitchens|archive-date=15 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> After joining ''The Nation'', he penned vociferous critiques of [[Ronald Reagan]], [[George H. W. Bush]] and American foreign policy in South and Central America.<ref name="Gordon-2007"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/51559-1/Christopher+Hitchens.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117155612/http://booknotes.org/Watch/51559-1/Christopher%2BHitchens.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 November 2010|title=For the Sake of Argument by Christopher Hitchens|first=Brian|last=Lamb|author-link=Brian Lamb|date=17 October 1993|access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="Southan-2001">{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/free-radical|title=Free Radical|last=Southan|first=Rhys|work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]|date=November 2001|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324224737/https://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/free-radical|archive-date=24 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/christopher-hitchens/|title=Christopher Hitchens|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=1 January 2003|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506021625/https://www.theatlantic.com/author/christopher-hitchens/|archive-date=6 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Raz-2006">{{cite web|first=Guy|last=Raz|author-link=Guy Raz|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5498172|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101010101/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5498172|title=Christopher Hitchens, Literary Agent Provocateur|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|date=21 June 2006|access-date=10 June 2008|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="Parker-2006">{{cite magazine|magazine=The New Yorker|title=He Knew He Was Right|first=Ian|last=Parker|date=16 October 2006|access-date=10 June 2007|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407065449/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all|archive-date=7 April 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens became a contributing editor of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1992,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/christopher-hitchens|title=Christopher Hitchens&nbsp;– Contributing Editor|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=23 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222152010/http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/christopher-hitchens|archive-date=22 December 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> writing ten columns a year. He left ''The Nation'' in 2002 after profoundly disagreeing with other contributors over the Iraq War.<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taking-sides/ Taking Sides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701140230/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/taking-sides/|date=1 July 2022}}, ''[[The Nation]]'', Christopher Hitchens, 26 September 2002. Retrieved 22 May 2022.</ref>

There is speculation that Hitchens was the inspiration for [[Tom Wolfe]]'s character Peter Fallow in the 1987 novel ''[[The Bonfire of the Vanities]]'',<ref name="Southan-2001"/> but others—including Hitchens—believe it to be ''[[Spy Magazine]]''{{'}}s "Ironman Nightlife Decathlete", [[Anthony Haden-Guest]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Timothy|last=Noah|author-link=Timothy Noah|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2002/01/meritocracys_lab_rat.html|title=Meritocracy's lab rat|work=Slate|date=9 January 2002|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806025424/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2002/01/meritocracys_lab_rat.html|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1987, Hitchens's father died of [[esophageal cancer|cancer of the oesophagus]], the same disease that would later claim his own life.<ref name="Hitchens-2010a">{{cite magazine |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |date=1 September 2010 |title=Topic of Cancer |magazine=[[Vanity Fair magazine|Vanity Fair]] |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009 |access-date=8 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217040857/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009%23 |archive-date=17 December 2011 }}</ref> In April&nbsp;2007, Hitchens became a US citizen; he later stated that he saw himself as ''Anglo-American''.{{efn|
;[[Julian Morrow]]: "How do you identify yourself now?"
;Christopher Hitchens: "Anglo-American. I mean I didn't move to the United States until I was about 30, so it would be silly to say I'd left everything behind."
;Audience member: "If you had to give up one, which passport would it be? The British or the American?"
;Christopher Hitchens: "That's a waste of a question."
;Audience member: [embarrassed groan]
;Christopher Hitchens: [adamantly] "Anglo-American"
<ref name=Hitchens-2010-06-07-ABC/>
}}<ref name=Hitchens-2010-06-07-ABC>{{cite AV media |title=Christopher Hitchens: "Hitch-22" |date=7 June 2010 |medium=interview video |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |series=Sydney Writer's Festival |place=Sydney, AU |people=[[Julian Morrow|Morrow, Julian]] (producer, interviewer) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXwKk-9YNA |url-status=live |access-date=6 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207235247/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXwKk-9YNA |archive-date=7 December 2016 }}</ref>

He became a media fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]] in September 2008.<ref>{{cite web |first=Christopher |last=Hitchens |title=Christopher Hitchens on Sarah Palin: 'A disgraceful opportunist and moral doward'|publisher=PoliticalArticles.NET |date=18 December 2009 |url=http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2009/12/18/christopher-hitchens-on-sarah-palin-a-disgraceful-opportunist-and-moral-coward/ |url-status=dead |access-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514004329/http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2009/12/18/christopher-hitchens-on-sarah-palin-a-disgraceful-opportunist-and-moral-coward/ |archive-date=14 May 2011 }}</ref> At ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', he usually wrote under the news-and-politics column ''Fighting Words''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fighting Words |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words.html |url-status=live |access-date=21 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401131328/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words.html |archive-date=1 April 2016 }}</ref>

Hitchens spent part of his early career in journalism as a foreign correspondent in [[Cyprus]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Heather|last=Christie|url=http://www.shedoesthecity.com/at_the_rom_three_new_commandments|title=At the ROM: Three New Commandments|website=She Does The City|date=30 April 2009|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024540/http://www.shedoesthecity.com/at_the_rom_three_new_commandments|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Through his work there he met his first wife, Eleni Meleagrou, a [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]], with whom he had two children, Alexander and Sophia. His son, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, born in 1984, has worked as a policy researcher in London. Hitchens continued writing essay-style correspondence pieces from a variety of locales, including [[Chad]], Uganda<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601|title=Childhood's End|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=September 2006|access-date=1 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412232442/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601|archive-date=12 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Darfur]] region of [[Sudan]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2129657/|title=Realism in Sudan|work=Slate|date=7 November 2005|access-date=1 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826222014/http://www.slate.com/id/2129657/|archive-date=26 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991, he received a [[Lannan Literary Awards#Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction|Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lannan.org/lf/bios/detail/christopher-hitchens/|title=Detailed Biographical Information – Christopher Hitchens|access-date=27 April 2010|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041114040751/http://www.lannan.org/lf/bios/detail/christopher-hitchens/|archive-date=14 November 2004|publisher= Lannan Foundation}}</ref>

Hitchens met Carol Blue in Los Angeles in 1989 and they married in 1991. Hitchens called it love at first sight.<ref>{{cite web|first=Carol|last=Blue|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/an-afterword-to-the-life-of-christopher-hitchens-v2/4305582|title=An afterword to the life of Christopher Hitchens – Late Night Live – ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)|work=Radio National|date=15 October 2012|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007090735/http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/an-afterword-to-the-life-of-christopher-hitchens-v2/4305582|archive-date=7 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1999, Hitchens and Blue, both harsh critics of [[Bill Clinton]], submitted an affidavit to the trial managers of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in the [[impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment of Clinton]]. Therein they swore that their then-friend [[Sidney Blumenthal]] had described [[Monica Lewinsky]] as a stalker. This allegation contradicted Blumenthal's own sworn deposition in the trial,<ref name="Marshall-1999">{{cite web|first=Joshua Micah|last=Marshall|author-link=Josh Marshall|url=http://www.salon.com/1999/02/09/newsa_35/|title=Salon Newsreal &#124; Stalking Sidney Blumenthal|website=Salon.com|date=9 February 1999|access-date=26 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107093012/http://www.salon.com/1999/02/09/newsa_35/|archive-date=7 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and it resulted in a hostile exchange of opinion in the public sphere between Hitchens and Blumenthal. Following the publication of Blumenthal's ''The Clinton Wars,'' Hitchens wrote several pieces in which he accused Blumenthal of manipulating the facts.<ref name="Marshall-1999"/><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/07/hitchens.htm|title=Thinking Like an Apparatchik|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|journal=[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]]|date=July–August 2003|access-date=26 April 2011|volume=292|issue=1|pages=129–42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217143959/https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/07/hitchens.htm|archive-date=17 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The incident ended their friendship and sparked a personal crisis for Hitchens, who was stridently criticised by friends for what they saw as a cynical and ultimately politically futile act.<ref name="Gordon-2007"/>

Before Hitchens's political shift, the American author and polemicist [[Gore Vidal]] spoke of Hitchens as his "[[Dauphin of France|dauphin]]" or "heir".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/letters.htm|title=Hitchens on Books|access-date=17 February 2009|first=Andrew|last=Werth|date=January–February 2004|work=[[The Atlantic]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626141928/http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/letters.htm|archive-date=26 June 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://osdir.com/ml/politics.leftists.monkeyfist/2001-04/msg00016.html|title=Gore should be so lucky|access-date=17 February 2009|first=John|last=Banville|date=3 March 2001|newspaper=The Irish Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106195116/http://osdir.com/ml/politics.leftists.monkeyfist/2001-04/msg00016.html|archive-date=6 January 2009}}</ref> In 2010 Hitchens attacked Vidal in a ''Vanity Fair'' piece headlined "Vidal Loco", calling him a "crackpot" for his adoption of [[9/11 conspiracy theories]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/02/hitchens-201002|title=Vidal Loco|access-date=24 June 2010|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|date=February 2010|magazine=Vanity Fair|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528034636/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/02/hitchens-201002|archive-date=28 May 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html|title=Hitchens attacks Gore Vidal for being a 'crackpot'|access-date=17 February 2009|date=7 February 2010|work=The Independent|location=London|first=Kate|last=Youde|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210175549/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html|archive-date=10 February 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> On the back of Hitchens's memoir ''Hitch-22,'' among the praise from notable figures, Vidal's endorsement of Hitchens as his successor is crossed out in red and annotated "NO, C.H." Hitchens's strong advocacy of the war in Iraq gained him a wider readership, and in September 2005 he was named as fifth on the list of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' and ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]'' magazines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2005/10/15/prospectfp-top-100-public-intellectuals-results/|publisher=The Foreign Policy Group|title=Top 100 Public Intellectuals Results|date=15 May 2008|access-date=1 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611230220/http://foreignpolicy.com/2005/10/15/prospectfp-top-100-public-intellectuals-results/|archive-date=11 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> An online poll ranked the 100 intellectuals, but the magazines noted that the rankings of Hitchens (5), [[Noam Chomsky]] (1), and [[Abdolkarim Soroush]] (15) were partly due to their respective supporters' publicising of the vote. Hitchens later responded to his ranking with a few articles about his status as such.<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/what-is-a-public-intellectual|title=How to be a public intellectual|work=Prospect|date=24 May 2008|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221154018/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/what-is-a-public-intellectual|archive-date=21 February 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/07/the-plight-of-the-public-intellectual/|title=The Plight of the Public Intellectual|work=Foreign Policy|date=7 October 2009|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508054804/http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/07/the-plight-of-the-public-intellectual/|archive-date=8 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchens did not leave his position writing for ''The Nation'' until after the [[September 11 attacks]], stating that he felt the magazine had arrived at a position "that [[John Ashcroft]] is a greater menace than [[Osama bin Laden]]".<ref name="Chomsky-2001">{{cite news|first=Noam|last=Chomsky|author-link=Noam Chomsky|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/reply-hitchenss-rejoinder|title=Reply to Hitchens's Rejoinder|work=The Nation|date=15 October 2001|access-date=1 June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614060958/http://www.thenation.com/article/reply-hitchenss-rejoinder|archive-date=14 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> The September 11 attacks "exhilarated" him, bringing into focus "a battle between everything I love and everything I hate" and strengthening his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy that challenged "[[Islamofascism|fascism with an Islamic face]]".<ref name="Parker-2006"/> His numerous editorials in support of the [[Iraq War]] caused some to label him a [[Neoconservatism|neoconservative]], although Hitchens insisted he was not "a conservative of any kind", and his friend [[Ian McEwan]] described him as representing the anti-totalitarian left.<ref name="Eaton-2010">{{cite web|last=Eaton|first=George|author-link=George Eaton (journalist)|work=The New Statesman|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/07/conservative-course-presidency|title=Interview: Christopher Hitchens|date=12 July 2010|access-date=7 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101021515/http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/07/conservative-course-presidency|archive-date=1 January 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchens recalls in his memoir having been "invited by [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] to write an essay on political reconsiderations for his magazine ''{{ill|La Règle du jeu (magazine)|lt=La Règle du jeu|fr|La Règle du jeu (revue)}}''. I gave it the partly ironic title: 'Can One Be a Neoconservative?' Impatient with this, some copy editor put it on the cover as 'How I Became a Neoconservative.' Perhaps this was an instance of the [[Cogito, ergo sum|Cartesian principle]] as opposed to the English empiricist one: It was decided that I evidently was what I apparently only thought." Indeed, in a 2010 BBC interview, he stated that he "still [thought] like a Marxist" and considered himself "a leftist".<ref>{{cite web|first=Jeremy|last=Paxman|author-link=Jeremy Paxman|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-s9AyNQyCw|title=Paxman meets Hitchens|date=10 August 2010|publisher=Two|work=BBC newsnight|access-date=12 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615232121/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-s9AyNQyCw|archive-date=15 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2007, Hitchens published one of his most controversial articles titled "Why Women Aren't Funny" in ''Vanity Fair''. While providing no empirical evidence, he argued that there is less societal pressure for women to practice humour and that "women who do it play by men's rules".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701|title=Why Women Aren't Funny|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=January 2007|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322164803/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Over the following year, ''Vanity Fair'' published several letters that it received, objecting to the tone or premise of the article, as well as a rebuttal by [[Alessandra Stanley]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/funnygirls200804|title=Who Says Women Aren't Funny?|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=3 March 2008|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614073208/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/funnygirls200804|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Amid further criticism, Hitchens reiterated his position in a video and written response.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA|title=Christopher Hitchens: Why Women Still Aren't Funny {{!}} Vanity Fair|website=YouTube|date=3 March 2008|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118092805/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA|archive-date=18 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2008/04/hitchens200804|title=Why Women Still Don't Get It|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=3 March 2008|access-date=4 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614080320/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2008/04/hitchens200804|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2007 Hitchens's work for ''Vanity Fair'' won the [[National Magazine Award]] in the category "Columns and Commentary".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/ASME/ABOUT_ASME/ASME_PRESS_RELEASES/22246.aspx|title=2007 National Magazine Award Winners Announced|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|date=1 May 2007|access-date=1 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114030507/http://www.magazine.org/ASME/ABOUT_ASME/ASME_PRESS_RELEASES/22246.aspx|archive-date=14 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He was a finalist in the same category in 2008 for some of his columns in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' but lost out to [[Matt Taibbi]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/ASME/MAGAZINE_AWARDS/NMA_WINNERS/index.aspx|title=National Magazine Awards Winners and Finalists|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|date=16 December 2008|access-date=1 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728065940/http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|archive-date=28 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Hitch-22'' was short-listed for the 2010 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for Autobiography. He won the National Magazine Award for Columns about Cancer in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/christopher-hitchens-wins-national-magazine-award-for-columns-about-cancer.html|title=Christopher Hitchens Wins National Magazine Award for Columns About Cancer|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=10 May 2011|access-date=16 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805102119/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/christopher-hitchens-wins-national-magazine-award-for-columns-about-cancer.html|archive-date=5 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=2011 National Magazine Awards Winners and Finalists|url=http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|date=9 May 2011|access-date=1 June 2011|publisher=Magazine Publishers of America|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701221749/http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx|archive-date=1 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hitchens also served on the advisory board of [[Secular Coalition for America]] and offered advice to the Coalition on the acceptance and inclusion of nontheism in American life.<ref name="SCfA">{{cite web|url=http://www.secular.org/bios/Christopher_Hitchens.html|title=Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography|publisher=Secular.org|access-date=20 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103015717/http://www.secular.org/bios/Christopher_Hitchens.html|archive-date=3 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2011, prior to his death, [[Asteroid]] [[57901 Hitchens]] was named after him.<ref>{{cite news|last=Weiner|first=Juli|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/Asteroid-Named-for-Christopher-Hitchens|title=Asteroid Named for Christopher Hitchens|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=6 December 2011|access-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407001700/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/Asteroid-Named-for-Christopher-Hitchens|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>