> Mike Larkin wrote:
>
>> Wonder if anyone had the stomach to read this.
>> Couldn't do it.
>>
>>
>> http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/09/hitchens.htm
>
> Civil (for the most part) but uninteresting.
Pretty much. When Hitchens was publicizing his big split with the rest of the Left, he wasted little time in busting down Chomsky, Ed Herman, and many others... but he never seemed to want to load the same kind of invective on Edward Said. I couldn't understand why, but my suspicions were that Hitchens had more sympathy for Said as a scholar and a human being; after all, Said has received more than his share of slander from Israeli apologists, and it was my guess that Hitchens probably didn't want to add to that particular shitstorm.
But this review of Said's new edition of _Orientalism_ is pretty mild. I can't say it's "surprisingly" mild, because that'd imply that either one expected more venom and fireworks from Hitchens, or that Said's book deserved harsher commentary. But it's neither. I got the sense that Hitchens was disappointed that Said didn't take the opportunity to endorse the crusade against Islamo-fascism, but he didn't want to toss Said in the same bin he'd chucked Chomsky and others.