When Cockburn Was Bigger than Hitchens

Though they later sparred and went in different directions politically, with Hitchens becoming the better-known writer, Alexander Cockburn and Christopher Hitchens were once much the same in terms of their reputation:

There were certainly many similarities — both were witty, charismatic Brits who wrote about politics with a literary flair. Both started out on the left, but while Cockburn stayed there, Hitchens swung way over to the right. Hitchens’ fame now greatly overshadows Cockburn’s, but it’s easy to forget it wasn’t always that way. Back in the 80s the two shared very similar politics and and probably roughly equivalent name recognition in political journalism circles. In fact, Cockburn, who back then had a regular political column in the Wall Street Journal (!), probably had a higher profile than Hitchens.

No obituary for Cockburn was complete, it seems, without some mention (sometimes extensive discussion) of their rivalry. No, seriously. One I came across devoted most of the piece to explaining why Hitchens was inferior.

Initial post about Cockburn's death here.