The World As It Is
Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress
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- $229.00
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- $229.00
Descripción editorial
A searing and provocative critique of American empire and modern warfare from a Pulitzer Prize–winning 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.” —Kirkus
The World As It Is collects the best of Hedges’s essays originally published by Truthdig, the Webby Award–winning 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 States’s wars of self-destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, the decay of American empire at home and abroad, Israel’s 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 Hedges’s 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former New York Times correspondent Hedges (The Death of the Liberal Class) offers a collection of his recent articles (many culled from his regular column at Truthdig.com), grouped under a handful of topics: "Politics," "Israel and Palestine," "The Middle East," "The Decay of Empire." It's indicative of the longtime war correspondent's experienced eye and commitment to social justice that these areas include subject matter of especially pressing concern, whether the task is understanding the assault underway on organized labor in Wisconsin and elsewhere, liberal disillusionment with Obama, or the dynamics of foreign dictatorships subsidized by the U.S., as in the timely "Inside Egypt" and other dispatches providing vivid background and astute observations on a roiling Middle East. Hedges is equally direct and damning in assessments of Israel's ongoing occupation and colonization of Palestine, including some stirring reportage from within the shadow of the mammoth and destructive separation wall. While things may be changing given the current international upsurge of mass public democratic action, the author's pointed descriptions of the dangers of American "political passivity" deserve careful consideration along with much else in these powerfully written pages.
