War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

Description

As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges, who is also a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive: "It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living." Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, corrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting the most basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of terrible power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary. "This book is an example of the best kind of war journalism: It is bitterly poetic and ruthlessly philosophical. It sends out a powerful message to people contemplating the escalation of the war against terrorism." —Los Angeles Times Book Review Chris Hedges, a staff member of the New York Times since 1990, is the author of Losing Moses on the Freeway and What Every Person Should Know About War. Title Page......Page 3 Copyright......Page 4 Dedication......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 9 1: The Myth of War......Page 22 2: The Plague of Nationalism......Page 40 3: The Destruction of Culture......Page 54 4: The Seduction of Battle and the Perversion of War......Page 69 5: The Hijacking and Recovery of Memory......Page 97 6: The Cause......Page 112 7: Eros and Thanatos......Page 123 Notes......Page 143 Bibliography......Page 147 Acknowledgments......Page 150 Index......Page 153 About the Publisher......Page 171