The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress [Hardcover]

Chris Hedges (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2011

Drawing on two decades of experience as a war correspondent and based on his numerous columns for Truthdig, Chris Hedges presents The World As It Is, a panorama of the American empire at home and abroad, from the coarsening effect of America's War on Terror to the front lines in the Middle East and South Asia and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Underlying his reportage is a constant struggle with the nature of war and its impact on human civilization. "War is always about betrayal," Hedges notes. "It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, and his War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction. Hedges is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute, a columnist for Truthdig, and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books (April 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156858640X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568586403
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Government     > Democracy

More About the Author

Chris Hedges is a cultural critic and author who was a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. He reported from Latin American, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He was a member of the team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for The New York Times coverage of global terrorism, and he received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Hedges, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for his book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He is a Senior Fellow at The Nation Institute and writes an online column for the web site Truthdig. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and the University of Toronto.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 186 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hedges at his best., April 20, 2011

By 

Dustin G. Rhodes (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress (Hardcover)

Chris Hedges defies easy categories: he's part journalist, part poet, part zen master -- always with his finger pointing toward the (often very painful) truth. I consider him to be among the very best living writers.

Hedges' work is a downer. Sometimes I read his columns and his books, and I am filled with paralyzing fright and sadness. He knows how bad the world is; he can articulate the horrors of war, greed, capitalism, corporate power, etc. ad nauseum in a way that is visceral and devastating. I know of no other writer who speaks the truth in such a dense, but accessible and compassionate way.

I am grateful to Chris Hedges. His books and columns have transformed me -- changed both my personal habits and outlook. The World As It Is is filled with wisdom, sanity and unsettling truth -- a truth we are wise to not only embrace but act upon before the world descends into a place from which there is no escape.

My description might sound bleak (ahhhh, but: the world is bleak, if we choose to see 'the world as it is'), but Chris Hedges doesn't blather on about hopelessness and despair; he states the truth as if we might choose a different way of life -- one that respects our fellow citizens and the planet we live on. Hedges knows the world we live in is filled with enormous pain and suffering, and also that there's another way. His sobering work has the power to nudge us in the right direction.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

89 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book about the future, April 12, 2011

By 

Future Watch Writer (Washington, D.C. Area) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress (Hardcover)

Chris Hedges is one of the most creative American writers today. I have read his columns regularly on the Truthdig web site. Why is this book important? It is important because it represents a truly prophetic vision of where we are headed. He points out many of the truly malevolent aspects of today's modern plutocratic world system and the need to confront them. I am less pessimistic than he is about the prospects for reform in the Democratic Party in the U.S.. As a reporter for the New York Times in the Middle East and Bosnia, he saw the fury of religious war first hand. He has a unique insight into the world that is likely to come as things collapse. The power of the misuse of religion will be a major factor. He wrote a very interesting book on the religious right called American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. He also wrote a good book on the failure of the liberal establishment in America Death of the Liberal Class... You may not agree with everything he says. I don't. However, he is a unique and creative voice of integrity. You can get a good idea of what's here by clicking on some parts of the book you can read on Amazon. Check this out.

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb insights, May 2, 2011

By 

Tom Markus "rural" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress (Hardcover)

While working as a civilian contractor in Iraq I read Chris' book "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning". It affected me deeply and confirmed my exact feelings about what I was seeing over there. This new book is another excellent one. Why can't a deep thinker like this be in charge of our foreign policy instead of egotistical politicians who constantly play games? When people started hypnotically and robotically chanting "U...S...A.....U...S...A" the other night, it reaffirmed that we are in a period of psychotic patriotic hype that Mr. Hedges has written so presciently about.