I realize after reading this why my opinion of Chris Hedges falls each time I read a book by him. In part, it is because his analysis of each issue tends to be tendentious and simpleminded; in part, it is because he, the pot calling the kettle black, sees those that disagree with him as somewhere between moral monsters and merely amorally corrupt. And in part, it is because, as I was reminded by reading my own review of [b:I Don't Believe in Atheists|1888742|I Don't Believe in Atheists|Chris Hedges|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348768580l/1888742._SX50_.jpg|1890025], his tendentiousness sometimes crosses over into what can only truthfully be called lying.

All those things are on display here. Corporations are the root of evil. Repeat ad nauseam, and you have the first 150 pages for this book. From environmental degradation to the news people watch to... well, everything, corporations are responsible for it. E.g. people don't use plastic bags because they are a cheap convenience and people fundamentally lack grand-scale foresight, but because corporations have foisted this on us, forced it on us, tricked us, created false consciousness.

Actually, repeat *that* for the first 150 pages, and you've re-written a good chunk of this book. People don't do "bad" things because those things are "easy" or "taste good" or "lazy" or "cheap" or whatever, they do them because they've been tricked into believing those things are easy, tasty, lazy, cheap, etc. and if they could just break free then and fight the evil overlords, all would be well.

I disagree. Like the Communism that Hedges periodically castigates, the charges (plural) of false-consciousness are such an easy way of relieving yourself of any heavy lifting. Do people disagree with you? Corporate stooges. Is the "common man" not coming around? He's been blinded, robbed of his sense. I *know* that I should never use another plastic bag and yet I shamefully often do. I *know* that should pay more attention to where my clothes are made and what materials they are made from, but I have a thousand "more important" things to do. I realize that there is some real debate about whether organic and local foods are more environmentally friendly, but I could err on the side of caution and at least provisionally switch to only (or even just mostly) eating local, organic produce and dairy.

And so forth. Why don't I make those better choices? I suppose you can make sense of Hedges POV by bumping the responsibility up the chain and claiming that I don't do those things because the cheap, harmful alternatives are badly subsidized, costs are externalized, etc. and so that responsibility really does lie with "The Corporations," and I really am making the logical, best choice given the options, costs, ease of access, etc. But it is unclear to me why I get a (kind of, anyway, maybe) pass, but some other people (because that's what corporations are) making cars or Cheetos or rayon or whatever do not.

It's oddly disconnected from his POV on the wars in Iraq, Afganistan, and of war in general, and his take on American involvement in support of Israel. On that (those) subjects Hedges is morally outraged at the government, yes, the major political parties, yes, but also in some real way of the common voter. There it is our lack of caring, our turning a blind eye, our preference for sports and the Kardashians and sex pseudo-scandals and the lastest Hollywood explosion-fest that is responsible for the suffering and death that continue unabated. Sure, there is a nod to the corporate media burying the truth, but even Hedges can't really pin it on that; he ultimately more-or-less blames all of us.

For me, these are blazingly contradictory positions. What amazes me is that Hedges, who is religiously trained and clearly a believer in some major shape or fashion, who repeatedly points to the "corrupted" or imperfect (and unperfectible) nature of man, doesn't see suffering and war and class structure and racism and environmental degradation as the products of imperfect (to say the least) human systems made up of imperfect humans. He sees them as moral failings. Okay, so that is not surprising in light of his religious leanings. It seems surprising *to me*, as a nonreligious person, who takes from religion and some philosophy the "crooked timber" lesson/idea about humanity.

Hedges deeply wants humanity to be perfectible but understands that it is not, and in fact understands how deep the hell-hole is if you fall for the myth that humanity is perfectible. As a compassionate person who has seen some real shit in person, I think his desire for this is deeper than someone like me can really understand. But there's that gulf, you can't get there from here. I suspect that is a real problem for him, personally, and that the gaps and contradictions in these articles and essays are part of that gulf. I suspect that is why he so easily and frequently casts others as craven sell-outs and moral monsters (and, at least in previous books, as mentioned up top, even resorts to outright lying.)

A more interesting book, a more searching book, a better book, would be a collection of essays of him exploring that gulf. What would happen if we as a society, a nation, an economy, a people, a culture, as individuals, took that gulf seriously and paid more heed to our position on one side of it? ( )

Chris Hedges graduated from Starr King and Harvard Divinity, and joined the international press corp as a journalist for major newspapers, including the Dallas, and NYTimes. As a war correspondent his life was at risk. He now writes columns for Truthdig, and this book is a collection of those columns. Chris Hedges presents the panorama of the American empire at what we now see was its peak just before the Bush Administration destroyed it.

He documents fact that "America's War on Terror" has made enemies, done little to protect people, and has served to enrich the plutocracy.

Hedges speaks as an eyewitness -- from front lines in Central America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

War lovers will find his reports disappointing because they are accurate. He reports on 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." ( )