Discussed in this essay:

A Hitch in Time: Writings from the London Review of Books, by Christopher Hitchens. Atlantic Books. 340 pages. £12.99.

His head was hairless, except for a wispy pair of eyebrows, and there was a tumbler half full of what seemed to be scotch by his feet. “Well, you can still drink whisky after chemotherapy,” I thought. “Good to know.” The only time I saw Christopher Hitchens in the flesh was in the Great Hall at Cooper Union on September 16, 2010. He was debating Rabbi Shmuley Boteach about the afterlife. Boteach—author of Kosher…