Arguably

While driving back from Haifa today (the third day in a row I had to visit Haifa), I had one of those skin crawling moments when you just marvel at human excellence.  As I have stated before, I am listening to "Arguably", a collection of Christopher Hitchen's essays. It is a big collection (28.5 hours). Some of the literary criticism is quite heavy, but just listening to his perfect use of language is enough. Today I happened on a number of essays towards the end of the third of the four audible book parts which just kept getting better. The peak (in my opinion) was his essay on the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange used to defoliate Vietnam's jungle during the war. The effects of its Dioxin are still being felt now by the third generation. His descriptions are vivid, his outrage can be felt physically and I could not help becoming quite emotional and sharing his sympathy and remorse for the mutilated victims. At one point I swear the narrator himself almost choked up. It's very powerful stuff. This is some of the very best writing I have come across in years. I never appreciated what a great writer he was, and only now can appreciate the outpouring of emotion his death last December generated.