From Berlin to bin Laden

February 8, 2011

A history of the Baghdad Express illuminates the resilience of politicized Islam.
By Christopher Hitchens

"FEW MOMENTS IN the annals of derring-do will surpass the one at the opening of John Buchan’s Greenmantle (1916) when Sir Walter Bullivant explains the Ottoman side of the Great War to Richard Hannay.."

Read More (The Atlantic)

10 comments:

Usually a fan, I found this article poorly poorly written and not very informative or interesting.

Anonymous said...

outstanding. or should i say, good to the last drop...

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!!!! I'll enjoy reading this later today :)

Anonymous said...

The prose barely circulated at first, but then like from spring-fed pools it flowed over to streamlets, to grander rivers, to the delta and great open sea!! Veeery nice! :)

Sheldon McClure said...

I felt like I had just had rough sex after reading that. It was great but it would have been better at about 10 pages.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Recruiting Animal said...

"Usually a fan, I found this article poorly poorly written and not very informative or interesting."

It's Recruiting Animal's comment that is poorly written and not very interesting; like his website.

Anonymous said...

I missed this recording from 2007 Los Angeles Public Library.

http://events.lapl.org/podcasts/PodcastView.aspx?pid=287

Good conversation with a Catholic, and at about 1 hour 7 mins Hitch gets ia shouting match with what sounds like a 9/11 denier. It is a precursor of the famed 'Fascist Crackpot' incident at LA book fair, whcih in on Youtube. Wonder if it was the same guy following Hitch around?

Anonymous said...

this is a classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqSLryS7kHU

Anonymous said...

If computers get that smart, with that ethical bent, then we're in good hands.

Anonymous said...

"I missed this recording from 2007 Los Angeles Public Library.

http://events.lapl.org/podcasts/PodcastView.aspx?pid=287

Good conversation with a Catholic, and at about 1 hour 7 mins Hitch gets ia shouting match with what sounds like a 9/11 denier. It is a precursor of the famed 'Fascist Crackpot' incident at LA book fair, whcih in on Youtube. Wonder if it was the same guy following Hitch around?"

Where on Youtube do you find the LA book fair video? I can't find it.

 
 
 

Christopher reads from Hitch-22: A Memoir