Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American
journalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
,
authorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and
war correspondentA war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
, specializing in
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern politics and societies. His most recent book is
The World As It Is (2011).
Hedges is also known as the best-selling author of
War Is a Force That Gives Us MeaningWar Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a 2002 nonfiction book by journalist Chris Hedges. In the book, Hedges draws on classical literature and his experiences as a war correspondent to argue that war seduces entire societies, creating fictions that the public believes and relies on to continue...
(2002), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. A quotation from the book was used as the opening title quotation in the critically acclaimed and Academy Award-winning 2009 film,
The Hurt LockerThe Hurt Locker is a 2009 American war film about a three-man United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a US bomb...
. The quotation reads: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."
Chris Hedges is currently a senior fellow at
The Nation InstituteThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in
Central AmericaCentral America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
,
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. He has reported from more than fifty countries, and has worked for
The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
, National Public Radio,
The Dallas Morning NewsThe Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
, and
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, where he was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years (1990–2005).
In 2002, Hedges was part of the team of reporters at
The New York Times awarded the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. He also received in 2002 the
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. He has taught at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
,
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
,
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and The University of Toronto. He writes a weekly column on Mondays for
TruthdigTruthdig is a Web magazine that provides a mix of long-form articles, interviews, and blog-like commentary on current events, delivered from a progressive point of view. The site is built around major "digs" led by authorities in their fields who write multifaceted pieces about contemporary, often...
and authored what the New York Times described as "a call to arms" for the first issue of
The Occupied Wall Street Journal, the newspaper giving voice to
The
Occupy Wall StreetOccupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
protests in
Zuccotti ParkZuccotti Park, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park, is a publicly accessible park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a controlled by Brookfield Properties. The park was created in 1968 by Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, after the property owners negotiated its creation with city...
, New York City.
Chris Hedges is married to the Canadian actress Eunice Wong. They have two children together and Hedges has two children from a previous marriage.
Biography
Christopher Lynn Hedges was born in
St. Johnsbury, VermontSt. Johnsbury is the shire town of Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,571 at the 2000 census. St. Johnsbury is located approximately northwest of the Connecticut River and south of the Canadian border.St...
, the son of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Thomas Hedges. He grew up in rural Schoharie County, New York, graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut in 1975 and attended
Colgate UniversityColgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
where he received a B.A. in English Literature. He later obtained a
Master of DivinityIn the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...
from
Harvard Divinity SchoolHarvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
, where he studied under
James Luther AdamsJames Luther Adams , an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.Adams was born in...
. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in May 2009 from the Unitarian Universalist seminary,
Starr King School for the MinistryStarr King School for the Ministry is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley, California and part of the Graduate Theological Union. Starr King School opened in 1904 as the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry...
, in Berkeley, California.
Hedges, an outspoken critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, was also an early and vocal critic of the
Iraq War. He questioned the rationale for war by the Bush administration and was critical of the early press coverage, calling it "shameful cheerleading". In May 2003, Hedges delivered a commencement address at
Rockford CollegeRockford College is a private American liberal arts college in Rockford, Illinois. It was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary and changed its name in 1892. The college is known as the alma mater of Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, who was a member of the class of...
in Rockford, Illinois, saying:
- "We are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige and power and security."
His employer,
The New York Times, criticized his statements and issued him a formal reprimand for "public remarks that could undermine public trust in the paper's impartiality." Shortly after the incident, Hedges left
The New York Times to become a senior fellow at
The Nation InstituteThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, write books and teach.
In his December 29, 2008 column for
TruthdigTruthdig is a Web magazine that provides a mix of long-form articles, interviews, and blog-like commentary on current events, delivered from a progressive point of view. The site is built around major "digs" led by authorities in their fields who write multifaceted pieces about contemporary, often...
, Hedges identified himself as a "socialist" in contrast to what he sees as "ruthless totalitarian capitalism." On November 4 2011, Hedges was arrested with others in New York as part of the
Occupy Wall StreetOccupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
demonstration.
Hedges has appeared on
Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
and
George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002)
Hedges' bestselling
War Is a Force That Gives Us MeaningWar Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a 2002 nonfiction book by journalist Chris Hedges. In the book, Hedges draws on classical literature and his experiences as a war correspondent to argue that war seduces entire societies, creating fictions that the public believes and relies on to continue...
(ISBN 1586480499) draws on his experiences in various conflicts to describe the patterns and behavior of nations and individuals in wartime. The book was a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for Nonfiction.
What Every Person Should Know About War (2003)
Hedges is also the author of
What Every Person Should Know About War (ISBN 1417721049), a book he worked on with several combat veterans.
Losing Moses on the Freeway (2005)
Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America (ISBN 0743255135) was published in June 2005. The book was inspired by the Polish filmmaker
Krzysztof KieślowskiKrzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
and his ten-part film series
The DecalogueThe Decalogue is a 1989 Polish television drama series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew Preisner...
. Hedges wrote about lives, including his own, which had been consumed by one of the violations or issues raised by a commandment.
American Fascists (2007)
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on AmericaAmerican Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America is a non-fiction book by American author Chris Hedges, published in January 2007. Hedges is a former seminary student with a master's degree in divinity from Harvard and was a long-time foreign correspondent for The New York Times...
(ISBN 0743284437) was published in January 2007.
In this book, Hedges argues that the
Christian fundamentalistChristian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
movement emerging today in the United States resembles the early fascist movements in Italy and Germany at the beginning of the last century, and therefore constitutes a gathering threat to American democracy.
I Don't Believe in Atheists (2008)
I Don't Believe in Atheists (ISBN 141656795X), published in March 2008, is a critique of what Hedges perceives as a radical mindset that rages against religion and faith. Hedges states the book was motivated by debates he had with atheist authors
Sam HarrisSam Harris is an American author, and neuroscientist, as well as the co-founder and current CEO of Project Reason. He received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Stanford University, before receiving a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA...
and
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
who, Hedges feels, excessively demonize religion, particularly Islam, in ways that, Hedges believes, were eerily similar to the thinking of Christian fundamentalists. The 2009 paperback edition (1416570780) was retitled
When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists.
Collateral Damage (2008)
Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians (ISBN 1568583737), with Laila Al-Arian.
Empire of Illusion (2009)
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (ISBN 9781568584379) was published in July 2009. It is an exploration and critique of how literacy and meaningful relationships have been eclipsed and replaced by illusion and spectacle in American culture and society.
Death of the Liberal Class (2010)
Death of the Liberal Class (ISBN 9781568586441) was published in October 2010 by Nation books.
The World As It Is (2011)
The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress (ISBN 9781568586403), a collection of original Truthdig columns, was published in April 2011 by Nation Books.
External links
- Bush's Nuclear Apocalypse - An article written by Chris Hedges and published on the 8th of October 2006 on www.truthdig.com and on www.pravda.ru in Italian (L'Apocalisse Nucleare di Bush)
- I Don't Believe in Atheists - An interview with Chris Hedges by Charly Wilder at www.salon.com, 13 March 2008, on why New Atheists are as dangerous as Christian fundamentalists.
- Our Father - An essay by novelist Christian Bauman
Christian Bauman is an American novelist, essayist, and lyricist. A former soldier, Bauman is arguably best known for his critically acclaimed 2002 debut novel The Ice Beneath You, about the return of a young American soldier from Somalia...
that provides a behind-the-scenes view of the writing of What Every Person Should Know About War, at IdentityTheory.com, February 2009.
- Nation Books description of Death of the Liberal Class, October 2010
Video links
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- Hedges: President Obama is a "Poster Child for the Death of the Liberal Class" - video interview by Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- The Image of Faith in America conversation at World Affairs Council of Northern California
The World Affairs Council of Northern California, founded in 1947 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA, offers a forum where diverse audiences engage in critical issues that inform their actions...
, April 2008
- The Ten Commandments in America book discussion at Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles northwest of Jamestown in the western part of New York State...
, August 2008
- The Empire of Illusion book discussion at The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
, December 2009
Audio links