America: The Farewell Tour

By: Chris Hedges

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A profound and provocative examination of America in crisis, where unemployment, deindustrialization, and a bitter hopelessness and malaise have resulted in an epidemic of diseases of despair - drug abuse, gambling, suicide, magical thinking, xenophobia, and 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 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. A poignant cry reported from communities across the country, America: The Farewell Tour seeks to jolt us out of our complacency while there is still time.

©2018 Chris Hedges (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Great information but narration lacked

Chris Hedges is a fair and fresh breeze in the malaise of partisan authors out there nowadays. I did have to fast-forward past the heartbreaking personal stories from some of the individuals he interviewed for the book. I also had to double the narration speed because it was so slowly read and full of ridiculous pauses. Hedges' writings are always full of great information. Tracking down the quoted authors will further my education considerably. I look forward to his other books not done to death by Fred Sanders.

Hedges is a genius!!!

people really need to wake Up!! everything is true. my heart sank and I wanted to cry by the end of the 1st chapter. because Hedges is completely and utterly right on the spot.

Eye Opening

Chris Hedges exposes the flaws in our country’s systems. He explains how and why our crony Capitalism is causing the collapse of the United States. Politics is a game of fear, the ruling elites are winning because of their ability to raise more money.

Scary, yet hopeful.

This should be a must read for every adult American. Left, Right, or center. Everybody. Hedges lays out clearly and articulately the corruption that is at the heart of the American political economy. He demonstrates with undeniable facts the economic stagnation of the working class amid outrageous accumulation of wealth by the ruling classes.

He roots the rise of fascistic movements and support the buffoon Trump in the abandonment of the working class by the liberal political elite. His eye-opening take on the American prison as a modern gulag system of slavery and debt peonage reveals that original sins upon which “America” was built, is still with us.

At the same time, Hedges throws the reader a lifeline. He points to positive movements aimed at empowering communities to create institutions parallel to the neoliberal dystopia we are told is the only way. He describes the Nordic model and how people did not settle for the trickle down scraps of the ruling elites.

Our path forward, which doesn’t include necessary collaboration with corporate-controlled Democratic Party, must include local leaders emerging who are “incorruptible.” Leaders and movements willing to sacrifice their own well-being, even their lives, to confront the structures of power and work toward a more humane future.

I have been reading Hedges for years. His latest books are masterpieces of political commentary. I could not emphasize this more: read this book (I listened and I believe Hedges is the narrator.) It is gripping, forceful, understated yet passionate, prescient, and hopeful.

If you have not read Hedges before, you will look at the world with new eyes after you put this book down. Read it. Then do something to make the world a better place.

embarrassing read

I like the book (though it is a bit of a rehash of empire of illusion and to a lesser degree, death if the liberal class).

but the reader struck me as one who barely followed what he was reading. like a community theater "troupe" bumbling through Hamlet, he is incapable of carrying the complexity of the narrative, and instead lulls the listener into a sleepy haze.

what really bugged me most was how often he mispronounces words: adjectives, names, places, and foreign language words. not to mention his bizarre attempt to do accents. all of this was very distracting. whoever produced this was a total wimp (fearful of offending the talent) or equally ignorant.

no excuse for that at this level. just as there's no excuse for when it happens on TV (and it's as common there as anywhere).

Excellent as always

Smart, organized, perfectly written. Hedges takes you into a set of detrimental factors that converge for the most obvious conclusion at the end. The US empire is in decline.

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.