A review by annepw
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges

2.0

Ach. This book. It drives me crazy. It garnered a second star because I was moved and enlightened by the descriptions of the dire poverty in which the people of the first four sections live; I'm embarrassed to admit I never realized just how bad things were, for example, on Indian reservations. But the fifth section fixation on the Occupy movement is, in hindsight, embarrassing and wrongheaded--not simply because the movement did not have the effect Hedges predicted, but also because that movement didn't directly address the plight of the people in the first four sections. It made me feel like Hedges was merely using their predicaments to make a political point, specifically a pro-Occupy advertisement. I'm an ardent liberal but even I found Hedges's soap-boxing tiresome and his points over-the-top and unsubstantiated. By the time I finished the book I was ready to throw it at a wall.
Joe Sacco's sections didn't annoy me. They didn't comment on the subject's lives and the art was lovely. I have no objection to that. Read for FYSP 128 Fall 2013.