Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, activist, and the best-selling author of several books including: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002) – a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction; Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009); Death of the Liberal Class (2010); the New York Times best seller, with cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012); and his most recent publication, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (2015).
Hedges is currently a columnist for the progressive news and commentary website Truthdig. 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 50 countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times, where he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
In 2002, Hedges was part of a group of eight reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. Hedges has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He currently teaches at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey.
This lecture by Hedges was part of the Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) F. Ross Johnson-Connaught speaker series.
