I'm a little torn on this book. On the one hand, Hedges is a good writer, with a journalist's eye for details that results in a very compelling story. On the other hand, his impulse is always to swing for the fences. So when he talks about people, they end up coming across as either saints, sinners, or hopeless victims. To give an example, Hedges spends a good amount of time writing about his leftist heroes (Chomsky & Zinn, to name a couple), but instead of just showing how they are relevant to his central thesis (that empowered independent thinkers serve as a safety valve for some of capitalism's worst excesses) he drones on and on about how brave they are and how all their critics are worthless shills. My big problem with this book is that it's very short and Hedges doesn't give himself enough space to flesh out all of his arguments. He's a bit of a spaz as well. He has trouble sticking to one theme long enough to fully develop it. If you expect a thorough and meaningful autopsy of the liberal class, I'd suggest going elsewhere. If you want to read Hedges spit fire for 217 pages (knowing he's one hell of a fire-spitter), this book may be for you. this book provides what I was looking for in the al franken book. it provides historical context for the "righting" of america, how the democratic party and the american left lost their edge and anchor - while the right was able to contain its extremists to push the public discourse further right.this book blew my mind.this book is causing me to re-examine things I am guilty of as a wholesome do-gooder believing in the upward flight of mankind. I might be wrong about mankind.Music fans, democracy fans a quote:"I often think of the music of the 1960s - phil ochs, dylan, joan baez, odetta...." shetterly said:this music about civil rights and the illegitimacy of the vietnam war was everywhere. the corporate media had not yet learned that simply by not playing that music they could severely limit the spread of ideas. millions of young people were radicalized to act for political causes, not by reading essays and taking courses, but by the spurring of art. art told them their consciences were right. they could trust bob dylan and not lbj or nixon. try to imagine the civil-rights or the antiwar movement without music.this lesson was not lost on the corporate media after the 60s. If their intent was to build a consensus good for profit, and that profit derived from war, exploitation, imperialism, all they had to do was not report on or play art that carried a message of peace and resistance. it's not censorship. the artists are free to speak and produce. but not many people will know about it. and, because the corporate media, our sanctified free press, is now clearly part of the mechanism of propaganda for the military-industrial-congressional-complex, artists have to attack the press as much as the war profiteers and elected liars, and thus have even less likelihood of being reported on. the media hates to have its biases exposed." pgs 119/120
Do You like book The Death Of The Liberal Class (2010)?
An insightful book. I'm glad there is somebody like Chris Hedges saying this.
—Conny
A must-read for analysis. A disappointing iconoclastic conclusion.
—Heatmiser
Outstanding and very, very scary. Except that it is nonfiction.
—charlie
