Chris Hedges shows us in America, The Farewell Tour, a country that should shame us, a land of rampant and deadly drug addiction, of escape into gambling with slots online and pornography, of xenophobic scapegoating – a country where the super-rich exploit the poor and vulnerable. He is calling us out for having become a corporate state where the dignity and worth of the individual no longer matter.
This is a profound and provocative examination of America in crisis, convulsed by pathologies that have risen from the sense of hopelessness. Hedges examines our retreat into gambling, pornography, and drugs as Americans attempt to cope with an economic collapse that has left so many out of work and others working two or even three jobs just to stay afloat. As our society unravels, we also must face global upheavals, specifically the emerging catastrophes wrought by climate change. He argues that we must reverse the corporate coup d’etat destroying our country and combat the current crisis by waging a cultural, moral and even spiritual resistance.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported from more than 50 countries. He spent 15 years at The New York Times as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief. He is the author of twelve previous books, including the bestselling American Fascists, Death of the Liberal Class, and War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, The University of Toronto, and in the New Jersey prison system. He is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. His work has appeared in Harper’s,
The New Statesman, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, Adbusters, Granta, and Foreign Affairs.
Norman Solomon is a media critic, former U.S. Congressional candidate, and a journalist with ExposeFacts.org, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is also the author of numerous books and a co-founder of RootsAction.org.