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Chris Hedges

クリス・ヘッジズ

Kuris Hedgesu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1956-09-18 （St. Johnsbury, Vermont, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, French, Spanish, Levantine Arabic, Koine Greek
Religion
Presbyterian (Protestant)
Residence History
Schoharie County, New York (raised) → Windsor, Connecticut (Loomis Chaffee School) → Boston (Roxbury neighborhood; lived while at Harvard) → Princeton, New Jersey (residence) → Paris (based while covering Al Qaeda in Europe) → Sarajevo (based while Balkan bureau chief)

Career

Occupations
Journalist, Author, Clergyman / Minister, Commentator, War correspondent, Adjunct educator (prison writing teacher)
Active Years
1980-2025
Affiliations
The New York Times (former Middle East & Balkan bureau chief), Type Media Center (senior fellow), Truthdig (columnist; long-time contributor), Scheerpost (columnist)
Memberships
PEN America (former member; resigned 2013)
Influenced By
Robert Cox, James Luther Adams, George Orwell (influence from his writings)

Education

Loomis Chaffee School
Degree: High school diploma
Period: 〜1975
Year of Graduation: 1975
Country: United States
Attended on scholarship; founded an underground newspaper that was banned.
Colgate University
English
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Period: 1975–1979
Year of Graduation: 1979
Country: United States
Major in English. Helped found an LGBT student group.
Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University
Divinity / Classics
Degree: Master of Divinity (M.Div.)
Period: 1980s（修了1983）
Year of Graduation: 1983
Country: United States
Studied under James Luther Adams; studied classics and Classical Greek.
Harvard University (Nieman Fellowship)
Degree: Nieman Fellowship
Period: 1998–1999
Year of Graduation: 1999
Country: United States
Nieman Fellow (1998–1999); studied Latin and classics.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (contributed as part of staff)
2002
Work: Contribution to the paper's coverage of global terrorism
Organization: The New York Times (staff entry)
Result: 受賞（スタッフの一員として寄稿）
Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism
2002
Organization: Amnesty International
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Fellowship (Nonfiction)
2006
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

2002 Non-fiction / War reporting

Draws on frontline reporting to analyze the psychological and cultural meanings that war provides to societies and individuals.

WarTraumaPower and myth

Death of the Liberal Class

2010 Non-fiction / Political critique

Argues that liberal institutions and intellectuals in the U.S. have been co-opted or neutralized in the face of corporate power and militarism.

Political critiqueMedia criticismCapitalism

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (with Joe Sacco)

2012 Non-fiction / Graphic non-fiction

A collaboration exploring 'sacrifice zones' in the U.S., combining reportage and cartoons to depict poverty and structural violence.

PovertyStructural violenceClass struggle

Bibliography

  • War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002)
  • What Every Person Should Know About War (2003)
  • Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America (2005)
  • American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2007)
  • I Don't Believe in Atheists (2008)
  • Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians (2008, with Laila Al-Arian)
  • Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009)
  • Death of the Liberal Class (2010)
  • The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress (2010)
  • Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012, with Joe Sacco)
  • Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (2015)
  • Unspeakable (2016)
  • America: The Farewell Tour (2018)
  • Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison (2021)
  • The Greatest Evil is War (2022)
  • A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine (2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Investigative non-fictionArgumentative, moralizing essayistic styleOn-the-ground reportage-based narration
Recurring Motifs
War and traumaClass struggle and economic inequalitySocial collapse and resistancePrisons and critiques of incarcerationEnvironmental destruction / ecological collapse

Health

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
    戦場取材を続けた時期から継続
    Has spoken publicly about PTSD resulting from frontline reporting; it has affected his personal life and work.

Legacy

Chris Hedges is known as a writer and public intellectual who draws on his experience as a war correspondent to critique American politics and society. Combining reporting with religiously inflected moral arguments, he has influenced public debate through books, columns, and lectures.

Academic Societies

  • Nieman Foundation (association as a fellow)
  • Lannan Foundation (award/fellowship)

Archives

  • The New York Times archives (contributed articles)
  • Truthdig archives (long-running column)

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances in documentaries, panel discussions, and frequent public lectures

Quotes

  • Class struggle defines most of human history. Marx got this right. It is not a new story. The rich, throughout history, have found ways to subjugate and re-subjugate the masses. And the masses, throughout history, have cyclically awoken to throw off their chains.
    Source: Scheerpost ("America's New Class War", January 18, 2022) (2022)

Trivia

  • Announced his family went vegan in 2014.
  • Was arrested during the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in 2011.
  • Has long taught writing classes in New Jersey prisons through programs affiliated with Princeton and Rutgers.
  • Has spoken publicly about suffering from PTSD due to war-zone reporting.