Hitch-22

The title is a play on Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, substituting Hitchens's own nickname 'Hitch' for 'Catch.' The allusion reflects the memoir's recurring theme of contradictions and paradoxes that Hitchens navigated throughout his ideological and professional life, from his early Trotskyism to his later support for the Iraq War.

Hitchens recounts his evolution from a young socialist and self-described Trotskyist at Oxford through his years as a prominent left-wing journalist, culminating in his highly controversial support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his eventual break from much of the political left. This trajectory made him a figure who was celebrated and vilified across the political spectrum.

The memoir includes personal portraits of numerous literary and political figures Hitchens knew, including his close friend Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Gore Vidal, and Edward Said. These relationships are depicted with Hitchens's characteristic wit, candor, and sometimes brutal critical honesty.

Hitch-22: A Memoir was published in 2010 by Twelve, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group. The memoir appeared shortly before Hitchens's diagnosis with esophageal cancer later that same year, a development he subsequently wrote about in his final work, Mortality.