Chris Hedges’s profound and unsettling examination of America in
crisis is “an exceedingly…provocative book, certain to arouse
controversy, but offering a point of view that needs to be heard”
(Booklist), about how bitter hopelessness and malaise have resulted
in a culture of sadism and hate.
America, says
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by
an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound
hopelessness, a bitter despair, and a civil society that has ceased
to function. The opioid crisis; the retreat into gambling to cope
with economic distress; the pornification of culture; the rise of
magical thinking; the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of
suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being
ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. As our society
unravels, we also face global upheaval caused by catastrophic climate
change. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the
nation and the planet.
Donald Trump rode
this disenchantment to power. In his “forceful and direct”
(Publishers Weekly) America: The Farewell Tour, Hedges argues
that neither political party, now captured by corporate power,
addresses the systemic problem. Until our corporate coup d’état is
reversed these diseases will grow and ravage the country. “With
sharply observed detail, Hedges writes a requiem for the American
dream” (Kirkus Reviews) and seeks to jolt us out of our complacency
while there is still time.