We needed him whether we knew it or not. He was a huge influence on me; I started reading him when he wrote for The Nation and loved his deep passion for politics and for – well, thinking. He was so intense a writer, but always seemed to have such deeply-held beliefs and convictions. He was one of the few men I ever met where you could not escape how goddamned sexy he was – because he was brilliant. His intellect and his passion radiated off him.
He was an inspiration to me, and I’m glad I had a lovely conversation with him many years ago at one of his readings.
His turn toward conservative in these years since 9/11 echoed a similar turn of one of my other favorite writer-heros, John Dos Passos. They weren’t such poor company, really: both of them so in love with the US in some ways, and so deeply critical of it in others.
I’ll miss you, Hitch. I’d say Godspeed but he was the most ardent of atheists, for which I loved him too.
