Chris Hedges was a war correspondent for two decades in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, fifteen of them with The New York Times, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of fourteen books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War and his latest, Our Class- Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison. The passages in this book are taken from his writings on war, primarily from Truthdig and ScheerPost, over the past twenty years, as well as from numerous talks and lectures. He writes a column every Monday for ScheerPost and has a show, The Chris Hedges Report, on The Real News. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University and has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and The University of Toronto. He has taught students earning their college degree from Rutgers University in the New Jersey prison system since 2010. You can find him at chrishedges.substack.com.
“Chris Hedges has compiled a remarkable record of
reporting and analysis. He has been an incomparable source of
insight and understanding, both in his outstanding career as a
courageous journalist and in his penetrating commentary on world
events. This is a contribution of great significance in these
troubled times.”
—Noam Chomsky
"A plangent diatribe against war."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Savage honesty is a hallmark of everything Chris Hedges writes.
Other writers seek to comfort or distract; his purpose is to
agitate, unsettle, and demand moral accountability. The
Greatest Evil Is War is no exception, which is precisely why
every American should read it and reflect on its disturbing
message."
⏤Andrew Bacevich, author of After the Apocalypse: America's
Role in a World Transformed
"Hedges refuses to reside in the abstract, creating instead a book
about war that is meant to be experienced viscerally. . . . His
book is nothing short of a gut punch."
⏤Jake Whitney, The Progressive
"Journalist Hedges (Our Class) delivers a blistering condemnation
of war in all forms and for all reasons. Opening the book with a
forceful condemnation of the U.S. government’s role in provoking
the Russian invasion of Ukraine by breaking its promise not to
expand NATO into Central and Eastern Europe, Hedges draws on his
experiences as a war correspondent in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone,
and elsewhere to paint a visceral portrait of the horrors of combat
and its physical and psychological aftereffects. Throughout, he
fiercely condemns the 'war industry' for prolonging conflicts and
U.S. politicians and journalists for using “bellicose rhetoric” to
demonize enemies and elevate allies into 'demigods.' Some of the
book’s most powerful pieces draw on the firsthand testimonies of
soldiers and their loved ones, including a former U.S. Army Ranger
who speaks eloquently of how indoctrination into military culture
made him 'want to deliver death,' and the father of a Marine killed
by a sniper in Iraq. Elsewhere, Hedges lets personal aggrievements
distract from his larger points, as when he complains that the
Kremlin-funded news channel RT America, where he had a show, was
shut down in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Though not all
its provocations land, this spiky treatise deserves to be reckoned
with."
—Publishers Weekly
"The Greatest Evil is War is an excellent common read pick.
At SUNY Oneonta, our common read is, by design, related to issues
of diversity, equity, and social justice. Past selections have been
made in an effort to stimulate conversation around such issues as
race and racism, mass incarceration, and immigration. Chris
Hedges’s book gives a voice to the silenced population of wounded
veterans and the civilian victims of war. Of all the issues so
frequently discussed in contemporary classrooms and on campuses,
perhaps the most neglected is what Hedges calls our “permanent war”
and the many victims of the culture and economy that support
permanent war. Furthermore, perhaps more fully than most of our
past titles, The Greatest Evil is War promises to
generate vigorous debate, especially as it relates to competing
narratives explaining the war in Ukraine and the U.S. war in
Iraq."
—George Hovis, Professor, Department of English, SUNY Oneonta
Ask a Question About this Product More... |