Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author of seven books, including the most recent: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, spoke to a full house at the Deer Isle Reach Auditorium on August 13, at an event Sponsored by Island Peace and Justice and Deer Isle/Stonington High School Adult Education, and co-sponsored by WERU. For those of you who missed it, we bring you his talk today, slightly edited for length. Local award-winning artist Robert Shetterly, who has painted a portrait of Hedges as part of his “Americans Who Tell the Truth” series, does the introduction.
Hedges was an early and vocal critic of the Bush Administration’s plan to invade Iraq, calling the pro-war press coverage of the lead-up to the invasion “shameful cheerleading.” After the invasion he continued to speak out and chose to leave The New York Times, after more than 15 years, rather than be censored by its editors. Shortly thereafter he wrote perhaps his most well-known book, War Is the Force That Gives Us Meaning, which was a finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
The son of a Presbyterian minister, Mr. Hedges has a B.A. in English Literature from Colgate University and a Master of Divinity from the Harvard School of Divinity. Today he is a Senior Fellow at The Nation Institute and Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He contributes articles to numerous print publications and also writes a weekly column for truthdig.com.