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5wamp_creature's review against another edition
5.0
Revolution is not rebellion. Modern liberals are no better than right wingers. Everyone with a brain should read this book.
strong_extraordinary_dreams's review against another edition
3.0
A powerful summary of all (some) of what is wrong with the world. A good polemic against corruption, evil and stupidity.
Despite his claims to 'see true' through the dishonest and corrupt media and their worthless politicians, he does claim to believe the corrupt state's official and moronic 9/11 myth - though wisely avoids, even once, integrating that claimed stupidity with his thinking or reasoning. "very few found the moral or intellectual will to resist". Indeed.
Despite his claims to 'see true' through the dishonest and corrupt media and their worthless politicians, he does claim to believe the corrupt state's official and moronic 9/11 myth - though wisely avoids, even once, integrating that claimed stupidity with his thinking or reasoning. "very few found the moral or intellectual will to resist". Indeed.
piccoline's review against another edition
5.0
Chris Hedges is a real hero of mine, and this is a powerful, urgent work. It's punishing, as so much of his work is, tough to get through. He sees things very clearly, sees the mess we're in, sees how much of that mess has, in a sense, closed in behind us leaving us very little chance at changing our course.
This is also a deeply prescient book, published around 2011, but already clearly laying out the pathologies that would gather Trump as their latest and most troubling symptom. But that's the clarity, too: I see way too many lamentations over Trump, these days, that fail to reckon with the fact that he is symptom, not cause.
This book is still well worth a read, also, for the fact that Hedges includes careful celebrations of various figures who have refused to go along with the wholesale destruction of those possible sprouts of goodness and egalitarian / communitarian spirit in the United States, people like James Cone, Ralph Nader, Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Howard Zinn, Sydney Schanberg and others. MLK and Malcolm X, too. He celebrates their radical commitment and refusal to compromise with power, with corporate money, with the forces of hate and control.
The book is also sprinkled with good long chunks of history. I learned a lot about labor history in the US and the (what seems now to be probably fatal) growth of propaganda in the US during WWI. Always urgent, always powerful.
Also highly recommended: [b:War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning|27502|War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning|Chris Hedges|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388199165s/27502.jpg|835823].
This is also a deeply prescient book, published around 2011, but already clearly laying out the pathologies that would gather Trump as their latest and most troubling symptom. But that's the clarity, too: I see way too many lamentations over Trump, these days, that fail to reckon with the fact that he is symptom, not cause.
This book is still well worth a read, also, for the fact that Hedges includes careful celebrations of various figures who have refused to go along with the wholesale destruction of those possible sprouts of goodness and egalitarian / communitarian spirit in the United States, people like James Cone, Ralph Nader, Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Howard Zinn, Sydney Schanberg and others. MLK and Malcolm X, too. He celebrates their radical commitment and refusal to compromise with power, with corporate money, with the forces of hate and control.
The book is also sprinkled with good long chunks of history. I learned a lot about labor history in the US and the (what seems now to be probably fatal) growth of propaganda in the US during WWI. Always urgent, always powerful.
Also highly recommended: [b:War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning|27502|War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning|Chris Hedges|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388199165s/27502.jpg|835823].
spearly's review against another edition
1.0
Hedges problem is that he speaks as though his opinion is fact. He comments on the liberal class and it's lost integrity, and then takes a stance on international issues he has no business making claims on.
Who am I kidding? I read this for class and it was probably the worst, most dense book I've ever read. Don't read it. Ever. Burn it.
Who am I kidding? I read this for class and it was probably the worst, most dense book I've ever read. Don't read it. Ever. Burn it.