America: The Farewell Tour

By: Chris Hedges

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Chris Hedges’s profound and provocative 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 a trademark blend of…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.

Best non-fiction book I have unearthed.

Hedges tour of America, etched in despair with waning but relevant dying embers of human nobility, is delivered with the empathy of a Studs Terkel and the unceremonius tearing off of the veil characteristic of a Malcolm X.

Rebel

It starts off with an improved version of things he's already written. Then it gets dark. really, really fucking dark. Then it ends with the thrust from Wages of Rebellion.

It's like Wages of Rebellion and American Fascists had a baby, and then he finally really committed to talking about pornography. Like. . .graphically. . . I really dont think I can read that chapter twice.

I want to go on like a dozen rants here, but that's what you need to know about the book if you're familiar with Hedges.

great book

offers great review of how we got to this poi t in our countries history and what is to come if a change in our current system is not realized in real life.

Essential. Excruciating.

Well, everything here is TRUE- a word that has dissolved in this our lost country. If you read this book, you will be forced to change. Do it- you’ll find your soul.

a compass to orient in turbelent times

sweeping coverage of social ills: pornography, opiods, gambling, violence, rape and how they are a reaction to marginalization of the working class. brings class struggle back to the forefront