Skip to main content
Street Roots Donate
Portland, Oregon's award-winning weekly street newspaper
For those who can't afford free speech
Twitter Facebook RSS Vimeo Instagram
▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Contact
  • Job Openings
  • Donate
  • About
  • future home
  • Vendors
  • Rose City Resource
  • Advocacy
  • Support
News
  • Social Justice
  • Housing
  • Environment
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Orange Fence Project
  • Podcasts
  • Vendor Profiles
  • Archives
Chris Hedges' picks for educating yourself about the state of America.

8 books to help activists understand the state of America

Street Roots
Chris Hedges recommends these primers on imperialism and capitalism
by Joanne Zuhl | 5 Oct 2018

When looking for guidance or inspiration for the resistance, Chris Hedges doesn’t put much faith in so-called leaders.

Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges was part of a team of reporters with the New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for coverage of global terrorism. That same year, he received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.
Photo by Kim Hedges

“I look to people like Noam Chomsky and Antonio Gramsci, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx. All of the theorists who understand how capitalism and imperialism works. You need that literacy,” he said.

We asked Hedges for a short recommended-reading list – in addition to his new book, “America: The Farewell Tour,” a critique of the dire consequences of our nation’s unfettered capitalism. 


RELATED: Chris Hedges talks to Street Roots about the evidence for our impending doom


“Capital. Volume 1: The Process of Production of Capital” by Karl Marx. (1867) “There is no analysis of capitalism and how it works that’s been better,” Hedges said.

“A Brief History of Neoliberalism” by David Harvey (2005) “If you want to understand the ideology of neoliberalism, read David Harvey’s book,” Hedges said.

“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn (1980) A grassroots view of American history from laborers, women, people of color and others fighting for equal rights and justice.

“Death of the Liberal Class” by Chris Hedges (2010). A primer on how the hallmarks of liberalism have collapsed and the extremes that filled the vacuum left behind. 

“Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire,” “The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic” and “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” all by Chalmers Johnson. These three books are known as The Blowback Trilogy and address the illegal operations the U.S. conducts abroad and the world’s response.


Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots

 
Tags: 
Art and Literature
  • Print

More like this

  • Chris Hedges: The evidence for our impending doom
  • Rahab’s Sisters: Radical hospitality in the wake of tension
  • Jessica Bruder reveals a subculture in America spawned by the drive to survive
  • Director’s Desk: Conversation about sexual violence must include marginalized voices
  • Political journalist Sarah Kendzior on what middle America can teach the rest of the country
▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • © 2021 Street Roots. All rights reserved. To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org.
  • Read Street Roots' commenting policy
  • Support Street Roots
  • Like what you're reading? Street Roots is made possible by readers like you! Your support fuels our in-depth reporting, and each week brings you original news you won't find anywhere else. Thank you for your support!

  • DONATE