War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

”[An] impassioned caveat against succumbing to the narcotizing effects of military conflict and its handmaidens–nationalism and the suppression of culture and dissent.” –The Washington Post
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
”[A] powerful chronicle of modern war … A persuasive call for humility and realism in the pursuit of national goals by force of arms … Hedges’s timely book is a potent and eloquent warning.” –The New York Times
“A brilliant, thoughtful, timely, and unsettling book … Abounds with Hedges’ harrowing and terribly moving eyewitness accounts… . Powerful and informative.” –The New York Times
“A loosely structured, highly illuminating anatomy of war. Throughout it, [Hedges] illustrates it with intensely honest, often beautifully written accounts of his experiences… . A pained, personal testament and a prophetic warning … Crucially important.” –The New Leader
“A profound meditation on the dangers of mindless jingoism and patriotic overkill which too often constitute policy in the Modern World. Written with extreme thoughtfulness and grace.” –Douglas Brinkley, New York Times-bestselling author of The Wilderness Warrior
“A searching indictment of international violence … What makes this more than just another treatise on the futility of war is the personal witness Hedges brings to the subject.” –National Catholic Reporter
“An angry, articulate book … A compelling read and a valuable counterweight to the more antiseptic discussions common among strategic analysts.” –Foreign Affairs
“Hedges knows the classics as well as he knows war firsthand. And while one may disagree with him along the way, his basic message is irrefutable.” –Robert D. Kaplan, New York Times-bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography
“I highly recommend Chris Hedges’ splendid little book… . His understanding is profound and was earned on the ground.” –Molly Ivins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Insightful, provocative and elegantly written.” –The Nation
“Moving … This should be required reading in the post-9⁄11 world.” –Library Journal
“No one is in a better position than Hedges to pronounce on the revolting things war does to everyone caught up in it… . A confession of rare and frightening honesty.” –Slate
“The book succeeds in its primary goal: It reminds us that war is dreadful beyond all imagining, and demolishes the myths we and our leaders embrace about war… . As the ‘war on terror’ continues … America would do well to heed Hedges.” –Salon
“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.” –Los Angeles Times
“What separates [Hedges’s] account … is that he has been there, repeatedly. Page after page, the author shows the good reporter’s gift for putting faces on the dead and the maimed who might otherwise remain undifferentiated ‘casualties.’” –Dallas Morning News

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He spent nearly two decades as a correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, with fifteen years at the New York Times. A former fellow at The Nation Institute, he is the author of numerous bestselling books, including Empire of Illusion Death of the Liberal Class War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with Joe Sacco. He writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

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