Chris Hedges - A pessi-realist

Reading what Chris Hedges writes is not easy. That’s why I decided to describe him as a “pessi-realist,” not knowing whether or not such a word existed. A Google search reveals that I’m not the first person to use that description. It applies to Hedges because he writes about issues we’d rather not think about, avoiding a patina of optimism to beguile us into thinking that things aren’t quite as bad as they really are.

Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City and a Lecturer in the Council of Humanities and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. 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, where he spent fifteen years.

Hedges was part of The New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. He received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.

My introduction to Hedges was in 2003, when I read his book, War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. I try to read everything he writes. Since I know he writes for Truthdig, I frequently check this link to find his most recent articles.

Here are two that I consider must-reads:

1. America in the Time of Empire posted November 26th;

2. Chris Hedges' Civil Disobedience, posted November 21st.

Hedges aptly expresses how I feel in both these articles. Rather than excerpt from them, I hope you’ll take time to read both of them and join me as a Chris Hedges fan.

(photo of Chris Hedges – Truthdig)