The World As It Is

A searing and provocative critique of American empire and modern warfare from a Pulitzer Prize–winning war correspondent, and one of the leading moral voices of our age

“Here, Hedges shows why his journalism won awards, as he takes us to places few dare to go.” —Kirkus

The World As It Is collects the best of Hedges’s essays originally published by Truthdig, the Webby Award–winning progressive news website. Hedges draws on two decades of experience reporting from conflict zones around the world in order to dissect the nature of war and its impact on humankind. Lyrically and fearlessly, he broaches a range of controversial subjects: the United States’s wars of self-destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, the decay of American empire at home and abroad, Israel’s ghettoization of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the shortcomings of American liberalism and mainstream media, the hope that Occupy Wall Street represented, and more.

Filled with Hedges’s trademark candor and steadfast skepticism of power, The World As It Is serves as a bracing reminder of the need for moral conviction and the perils of compromising our values.

• “Indicative of the longtime war correspondent’s experienced eye and commitment to social justice. . . . [Hedge’s] descriptions of the dangers of American ‘political passivity’ deserve careful consideration along with much else in these powerfully written pages.” 
  Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
• “Here, Hedges shows why his journalism won awards, as he takes us to places few dare to go.” 
  Kirkus