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Chris Hedges

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Chris Hedges
Born (1956-09-18) 18 September 1956 (age 67)
St. Johnsbury, Vermont, USA
EducationColgate University, B.A.
Harvard Divinity School, M. Div
Occupation(s)Journalist, Writer
SpouseEunice Wong
ChildrenThomas, Noelle, Konrad, Marina

Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies.[1] His most recent book is The World As It Is (2011).[2]

Hedges is also known as the best-selling author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (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 Locker. The quotation reads: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."[3][4][5]

Chris Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City.[6] He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than fifty countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times,[1] 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 Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. He also received in 2002 the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University[1] and The University of Toronto. He writes a weekly column on Mondays for Truthdig 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 Street protests in Zuccotti Park, New York City.

Chris Hedges is married to the Canadian actress Eunice Wong. They have one child and Hedges has two children from a previous marriage.[2]

Biography

Christopher Lynn Hedges was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 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 University where he received a B.A. in English Literature. He later obtained a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied under James Luther Adams. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in May 2009 from the Unitarian Universalist seminary, Starr King School for the Ministry, in Berkeley, California.[2][citation needed]

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 College in Rockford, Illinois, saying:[7]

"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."[8] Shortly after the incident, Hedges left The New York Times to become a senior fellow at The Nation Institute, write books and teach.[8][9]

In his December 29, 2008 column for Truthdig, Hedges identified himself as a "socialist" in contrast to what he sees as "ruthless totalitarian capitalism."[10] On November 4 2011, Hedges was arrested with others in New York as part of the Occupy Wall Street demonstration.[11][12]

Hedges has appeared on Democracy Now! [13][14] and George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.[15]

Books

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002)

Hedges' bestselling War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (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 Award 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 Kieślowski and his ten-part film series The Decalogue. 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 America (ISBN 0743284437) was published in January 2007. In this book, Hedges argues that the Christian fundamentalist 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 Harris and Christopher Hitchens 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.

References

  1. ^ a b c Simon & Schuster, "Authors: Chris Hedges"
  2. ^ a b c Americans Who Tell the Truth.org "Chris Hedges Biography"
  3. ^ The Scotsman, "Film Review: The Hurt Locker" By Alistair Harkness, August 28, 2009
  4. ^ "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning", Amnesty International NOW Magazine, Winter 2002
  5. ^ Hedges, Chris "War is a Force that Gives us Meaning", p. 2-3 of introduction, ISBN 9781400034635, Pub. Date: June 2003 (reprint), Publisher: Random House Inc.
  6. ^ The Nation Institute directory, bios, Chris Hedges
  7. ^ Footage of the speech on YouTube; Rockford College, May 2003
  8. ^ a b Hedges, Chris; A Father's Gift, The Dallas Morning News, June 17, 2006, accessed Dec 21, 2010
  9. ^ The Nation Institute
  10. ^ Hedges, Chris, "Why I Am a Socialist", TruthDig, Dec 29, 2008
  11. ^ Rich Schapiro & Helen Kennedy (November 3 2011). More than a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested outside Goldman Sachs, Reporter/Actvist Chris Hedges among those charged. New York Daily News. Retrieved on: 2011-11-04.
  12. ^ RTAmerica on YouTube
  13. ^ Pierce, Greg (25 May 2003). "Inside Politics". The Washington Times. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  14. ^ ""Chris Hedges on "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America""". 2007-02-19.
  15. ^ "Strombo, Chris Hedges, CBC Television". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
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