Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges on the most taboo topics in America, with David Talbot.The War on Terror is a profitable crusade against convenient enemies. Muslim rage is an understandable response to US state terror. Rising oligarchy in America has made democracy a sham and turned the electoral process into an increasingly absurd circus. Police violence against minorities is part of a systematic effort to crush social discontent. Proliferating violence against womens health clinics is part of the war on womens bodies. Freedom of speech is an illusion, with government agencies and corporate media dictating acceptable boundaries of public discourse. Americas only hope is a revolution to create genuine structures of popular power.This kind of insight into Americas deeply troubled current state cannot be found on television, in the pages of leading newspapers, or on Google News. Many of our most important thinkers are relegated to the shadows because their ideas are deemed too radicalor truefor public consumption. Among these intellectual bomb throwers is Chris Hedges, who, after decades on the front lines, continues to confront power in America in the most incisive, challenging ways.Hedgess unfettered conversation with Hot Books editorial director David Talbot founder of Salon and author of New York Times bestseller, The Devils Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of Americas Secret Governmentwill be the first in a series for Hot Books called Unspeakable, featuring some of the most important and censored voices in the world today.

Ancien correspondant de guerre et auteur de plusieurs essais, Chris Hedges “pense” ici son expérience des conflits armés en Amérique du Sud, dans les Balkans et au Moyen-Orient. Grâce à ses réflexion

Ancien correspondant de guerre et auteur de plusieurs essais, Chris Hedges “pense” ici son expérience des conflits armés en Amérique du Sud, dans les Balkans et au Moyen-Orient. Grâce à ses réflexion

"Fear This: A Nation at War" is Anthony Suau''s first-hand documentation of the United States throughout the buildup to the war in Iraq and major Allied military operations, ending with the capture of Saddam Hussein and the erupting Iraqi insurgency. Suau has dedicated his career to documenting the effects of international events on the individual lives of people around the world. In Fear This, he lays bare a country divided, a nation confused as it tries to navigate through news hype, anxiety, facts, and fiction--while raising important questions regarding how public consent is generated and the role an omnipresent media plays in our culture.

Acclaimed New York Times journalist and author Chris Hedges offers a critical -- and fascinating -- lesson in the dangerous realities of our age: a stark look at the effects of war on combatants. Utterly lacking in rhetoric or dogma, this manual relies instead on bare fact, frank description, and a spare question-and-answer format. Hedges allows U.S. military documentation of the brutalizing physical and psychological consequences of combat to speak for itself. Hedges poses dozens of questions that young soldiers might ask about combat, and then answers them by quoting from medical and psychological studies. What are my chances of being wounded or killed if we go to war? What does it feel like to get shot? What do artillery shells do to you? What is the most painful way to get wounded? Will I be afraid? What could happen to me in a nuclear attack? What does it feel like to kill someone? Can I withstand torture? What are the long-term consequences of combat stress? What will happen to my body after I die? This profound and devastating portrayal of the horrors to which we subject our armed forces stands as a ringing indictment of the glorification of war and the concealment of its barbarity.

The 10 Commandments -- the laws given to Moses by God -- are beyond the scope of human law. They are rules meant to hold us together but, when dishonored, they lead to discord and violence. In this fierce, articulate narrative, Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, looks through the lens of each commandment to examine the moral ruin of American society. With urgency and passion, he challenges readers to take a hard look at the disconnect between their supposed values and the shallow, self-absorbed lives many people actually lead. Taking examples from his personal life and twenty years of reporting, Hedges explores one commandment at a time, each through a particular social group. With each story, he reveals the universal nature of personal suffering, discovery, and redemption -- and explores the laws that we have tried to follow, often unsuccessfully, for the past 6,000 years.

From the New York Times bestselling author of American Fascists and the NBCC finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning comes this timely and compelling work about new atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects. Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, has long been a courageous voice in a world where there are too few. He observes that there are two radical, polarized and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: the fundamentalists who see religious faith as their prerogative, and the new atheists who brand all religious belief as irrational and dangerous. Both sides use faith to promote a radical agenda, while the religious majority, those with a commitment to tolerance and compassion as well as to their faith, are caught in the middle. The new atheists, led by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, do not make moral arguments about religion. Rather, they have created a new form of fundamentalism that attempts to permeate society with ideas about our own moral superiority and the omnipotence of human reason. I Dont Believe in Atheists critiques the radical mindset that rages against religion and faith. Hedges identifies the pillars of the new atheist belief system, revealing that the stringent rules and rigid traditions in place are as strict as those of any religious practice. Hedges claims that those who have placed blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and science create idols in their own image -- a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book that must be read to understand the state of the battle about faith.

Este libro expone la vieja idea sobre la gloria de la guerra y pone al descubierto el contagio que ésta provoca en un momento histórico nuevoy volátil como el actual. El autor aborda las horrendas verdades sobre la relacion amorosa entre la humanidad y la guerra y ofrece una meditacion conmovedora que provoca la reflexion personal.Chris Hedges muestra como los seres humanos estan condicionados para brazar lo que el llama el mito de la guerra, la idea de que el combate es noble, desinteresado y glorioso. La realidad de la guerra, que Hedges conoce de primera mano, supone la destruccion de la cultura, la perversion del deseo humano, y la victoria, en ultimo caso, de la muerte sobre la vida.Mientras la guerra contra el terrorismo sigue inexorablemente hacia delante, Hedges nos urge a no perder el contacto con nosotros mismos, con nuestro papel en el mundo, ni con el peligro que el entusiasmo por la guerra nos depara.

As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges, who is also a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive: It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, corrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting the most basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of terrible power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary.

Durante décadas, la clase liberal ha sido un mecanismo de defensa contra los peores excesos del poder. Posibilitaba formas limitadas de disidencia y cambio, y servía como baluarte contra los movimientos mas radicales, ofreciendo una valvula de escape para la frustracion y el descontento popular, y desacreditando a quienes planteaban un cambio estructural profundo. Sin embargo, una vez perdido su papel social y politico, la clase liberal y sus valores se han convertido en objeto de burla y odio. La bancarrota del liberalismo ha abierto la puerta a los protofascistas, y los pilares de la clase liberal prensa, universidades, movimiento obrero, Partido Democrata e instituciones religiosas se han derrumbado. Las clases mas pobres, e incluso la clase media, ya no disponen de un contrapeso efectivo, por lo que la clase liberal se ha vuelto irrelevante para la sociedad en general y tambien para la elite del poder empresarial al que una vez sirvio.En esta contundente critica Chris Hedges acusa abiertamente a las instituciones liberales de haber distorsionado sus creencias basicas con el fin de apoyar un capitalismo sin restricciones, un absurdo estado de seguridad nacional y unas desigualdades de ingresos y redistribucion de la riqueza sin parangon en la historia reciente. Para Hedges, la "muerte" de la clase liberal ha creado un profundo vacio en la vida politica, que estan tratando de llenar los especuladores, los promotores de la guerra y las demagogicas milicias del Tea Party.

A bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner offers a compelling case for the necessity of resistance in our turbulent times, and shows how rebellionshowever quixotic or irrational they seemare key to realizing a more ideal world A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedgeswho has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Classinvestigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance. Drawing on an ambitious overview of prominent philosophers, historians, and literary figures he shows not only the harbingers of a coming crisis but also the nascent seeds of rebellion. Hedgess message is clear: popular uprisings in the United States and around the world are inevitable in the face of environmental destruction and wealth polarization. Focusing on the stories of rebels from around the world and throughout history, Hedges investigates what it takes to be a rebel in modern times. Utilizing the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, Hedges describes the motivation that guides the actions of rebels as sublime madnessthe state of passion that causes the rebel to engage in an unavailing fight against overwhelmingly powerful and oppressive forces. For Hedges, resistance is carried out not for its success, but as a moral imperative that affirms life. Those who rise up against the odds will be those endowed with this sublime madness. From South African activists who dedicated their lives to ending apartheid, to contemporary anti-fracking protests in Alberta, Canada, to whistleblowers in pursuit of transparency, Wages of Rebellion shows the cost of a life committed to speaking the truth and demanding justice. Hedges has penned an indispensable guide to rebellion.

Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Chris Hedges makes a forceful case that liberal institutions have failed Americans by ceding power to self-serving and elitist corporations Uncompromising. . . . Hedges indicts the press, the Church, the arts, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party for failing to protect the middle and lower classes. The New Yorker For decades, the liberal class defended against the worst excesses of power. But the pillars of the American liberal classthe press, universities, the labor movement, the Democratic Party, and religious institutionshave collapsed. In their absence, the working and middle classes no longer have a champion. In this devastating critique, Chris Hedges charges American liberal establishments with surrendering their core beliefs and no longer providing an institutional check against unfettered capitalism, the national security state, corporate influence, and staggering income inequalities. The death of the liberal class, Hedges argues, has created a profound vacuum at the heart of American political life. And now, speculators, war profiteers, and demagogues are filling the void.

Through a mixture of words and drawings, two award-winning journalists tell the stories of Americans surviving in the parts of the country most ravaged by capitalism, and the ways they manage to find hope As moving a portrait of poverty and as compelling a call to action as Michael Harringtons The Other America. The Boston Globe A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Best Book of the Year In this blend of rigorous journalism and graphic novel, Pulitzer Prizewinner Chris Hedges and award-winning cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco set out to explore sacrifice zones, those areas in America that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress, and technological advancement. Beginning in the Great Plains, where Native American reservations bear the legacy of ethnic cleansing, Hedges and Sacco travel to some of the most neglected regions in the United States. They speak to families in Appalachia whose lives are subject to the whims of coal companies; they meet agricultural laborers who endure brutal working conditions and live below the poverty line. In each region, they seek pockets of optimism and resistance, from union organizers to neighbors who shelter each other, and ultimately end up in Zuccotti Park during the first days of the Occupy movement. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt is the searing account of Saccos and Hedgess travels.

A searing and provocative critique of American empire and modern warfare from a Pulitzer Prizewinning war correspondent, and one of the leading moral voices of our age Here, Hedges shows why his journalism won awards, as he takes us to places few dare to go. KirkusThe World As It Is collects the best of Hedgess essays originally published by Truthdig, the Webby Awardwinning progressive news website. Hedges draws on two decades of experience reporting from conflict zones around the world in order to dissect the nature of war and its impact on humankind. Lyrically and fearlessly, he broaches a range of controversial subjects: the United Statess wars of self-destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, the decay of American empire at home and abroad, Israels ghettoization of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the shortcomings of American liberalism and mainstream media, the hope that Occupy Wall Street represented, and more. Filled with Hedgess trademark candor and steadfast skepticism of power, The World As It Is serves as a bracing reminder of the need for moral conviction and the perils of compromising our values.

From a bestselling author and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, a scathing polemic against the spectacle-obsessed culture that has taken over American life A trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American Dream by unfettered capitalism. Philadelphia Inquirer An instant bestseller, Chris Hedgess Empire of Illusion is one of the most striking and unsettling explorations of illusion and fantasy in contemporary American culture. Traveling to the ringside of professional wrestling bouts at Madison Square Garden, to a pornography convention in Las Vegas, and to academic conferences held by positive psychologistswho claim to be able to engineer happinessHedges chronicles the encroachment of artifice and propaganda in all corners of American life. He exposes the mechanisms used to divert us from confronting the economic, environmental, political, and moral collapse around us. A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies, Hedges argues, and we are dying now.

From a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and bestselling author, an unflinching and close-up look at war: its intoxicating allure, its gruesome realities, and the grander truths it exposes about humanity A brilliant, thoughtful, timely, and unsettling book . . . Abounds with Hedges harrowing and terribly moving eyewitness accounts. The New York Times Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive. Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societiescorrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of haunting power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary.

A powerfully moving book that could make graspable why todays prisons are contemporary slave plantations (Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple), giving voice to the poorest among us and laying bare the cruelty of a penal system that too often defines their lives.Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Chris Hedges has taught courses in drama, literature, philosophy, and history since 2013 in the college degree program offered by Rutgers University at East Jersey State Prison and other New Jersey prisons. In his first class at East Jersey State Prison, where students read and discussed plays by Amiri Baraka and August Wilson, among others, his class set out to write a play of their own. In writing the play, Caged, which would run for a month in 2018 to sold-out audiences at The Passage Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, and later be published, students gave words to the grief and suffering they and their families have endured, as well as to their hopes and dreams. The classs artistic and personal discovery, as well as transformation, is chronicled in heartbreaking detail in Our Class.This magnificent (Cornel West, author of Race Matters) book gives a human face and a voice to those our society too often demonizes and abandons. It exposes the terrible crucible and injustice of Americas penal system and the struggle by those trapped within its embrace to live lives of dignity, meaning, and purpose.

Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges challenges the Christian Rights religious legitimacy and argues that, at its core, it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society.Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life.In American Fascists, Chris Hedgeswho grew up steeped in Bible and Christian tradition in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterianpoints to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have received assistance from the most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. He argues that the movements call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movements yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.Drawing from interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, Hedges examines the movements origins, its driving motivations, and its dark ideological underpinnings. He issues a potent, timely, impassioned warning: we face an imminent threat. American Fascists reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.

With intimate and harrowing portraits of the human consequences of oppression, occupation, and violence experienced in Palestine today, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges issues a call to action urging us to bear witness and engage with the ongoing humanitarian crisis.Hedges wrote the first section of the book when he was in Ramallah in July 2024, and he draws from his experience doing extensive reporting from the Middle East, including Gaza, for the New York Times.A Genocide Foretold confronts the stark realities of life under siege in Gaza and the heroic effort ordinary Palestinians are waging to resist and survive. Weaving together personal stories, historical context, and unflinching journalism, Chris Hedges provides an intimate portrait of systemic oppression, occupation, and violence. The book includes chapters on: What life is like in Gaza City and Ramallah in the midst of approaching bombs and gunfire. The history of the dispossession of Palestinians of their land in relation to the ideology of Zionism. A portrait of Amr, a 17-year-old highschool student who is forced to evacuate his village with his family. Psychoanalysis of the state of permanent war that has led to the destruction of hospitals, telecommunications centers, governmental buildings, roads, homes universities, schools, and libraries and archaeological and heritage sites in Gaza. The ways in which the collective retribution against innocents is a familiar tactic employed by colonial rulers. A heartbreaking final chapter called Letter to the Children of Gaza. Hedges, the Pulitzer Prizewinning former Middle East Bureau Chief for The New York Times, is an Arabic speaker who spent seven years covering the conflict. He wrote the first section of the book when he was in Ramallah in July 2024. A Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, he is also the author of two bestselling books, War is a Force that Gives us Meaning and The Greatest Evil is War. In A Genocide Foretold he writes with an emotional depth that can only be achieved from spending many years on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank. A Genocide Foretold is a call to action, urging us to bear witness and engage with the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Il y a une quarantaine d’années, lorsque des télévangélistes américains – tels Pat Robertson – se sont mis à hurler sur les ondes que les États-Unis deviendraient une nation et un empire chrétien, le