Urgent call for revolution as American poverty exposed
By Philipp Meyer |
August 19, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THIS book is a collaboration between Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco, showing us daily life in four centers of 21st-century American poverty. Both writers have decades of experience as correspondents in war zones, but in "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt" they turn their attention to the bombed-out and collapsed areas of their own country.
Sacco's sections are uniformly brilliant. The tone is controlled, the writing smart, the narration neutral; we are allowed to draw our own conclusions. Hedges sees this book as a call to revolution, and as with most works in which the author's philosophical and political beliefs are aired, a lot of what you appreciate about Hedges' writing will depend on how closely you identify with his politics.
Anyone who grew up near a postindustrial area - who has seen a middle-class town become a pocket of destitution - will not find any chapter in this book too shocking. What is shocking is the degree to which this depth of poverty is found everywhere, from rural Indian reservations to near-slave conditions in Florida tomato fields. These are not pleasant stories. They are the very sort of thing we all prefer to forget so that we can focus on our daily lives, and this makes it all the more important that they are recorded.
The first chapter opens with a sketch of life on the Pine Ridge Lakota reservation in South Dakota. As it follows the lives of various people on the reservation, weaving between history and personal narration, we see the rise of the American Indian Movement, its eventual collapse and how people today live with the consequences.
Hedges' rage here is palpable, as is his sympathy with his subjects. But as the book continues, the polemics fade. The second chapter brings us into Camden, NJ, telling the story of its decline and abandonment by the powers that be; the third chapter does the same for West Virginia, focusing on coal mining's economic, social and environmental effects. The fourth chapter, which covers human slavery in the Florida tomato fields, is the most shocking.
The book's final chapter takes place in New York City, at the center of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hedges believes this was a turning point in US history.
By the end of this book, I found myself preferring Sacco. If you are a close reader, his point of view is clear, but it is controlled in such a way that you are allowed to disagree with him.
Hedges is a serious writer and thinker. He is brilliant at depicting human life at the extremes of existence and explaining the effects on the human psyche. But there is little room to form your own opinions.
How you react to being ordered to join the revolt will determine what you think about this book. If you're a believer, it will all be fuel for the fire, but the people who would learn the most from these stories will very likely have trouble getting past the first pages.
Sacco's sections are uniformly brilliant. The tone is controlled, the writing smart, the narration neutral; we are allowed to draw our own conclusions. Hedges sees this book as a call to revolution, and as with most works in which the author's philosophical and political beliefs are aired, a lot of what you appreciate about Hedges' writing will depend on how closely you identify with his politics.
Anyone who grew up near a postindustrial area - who has seen a middle-class town become a pocket of destitution - will not find any chapter in this book too shocking. What is shocking is the degree to which this depth of poverty is found everywhere, from rural Indian reservations to near-slave conditions in Florida tomato fields. These are not pleasant stories. They are the very sort of thing we all prefer to forget so that we can focus on our daily lives, and this makes it all the more important that they are recorded.
The first chapter opens with a sketch of life on the Pine Ridge Lakota reservation in South Dakota. As it follows the lives of various people on the reservation, weaving between history and personal narration, we see the rise of the American Indian Movement, its eventual collapse and how people today live with the consequences.
Hedges' rage here is palpable, as is his sympathy with his subjects. But as the book continues, the polemics fade. The second chapter brings us into Camden, NJ, telling the story of its decline and abandonment by the powers that be; the third chapter does the same for West Virginia, focusing on coal mining's economic, social and environmental effects. The fourth chapter, which covers human slavery in the Florida tomato fields, is the most shocking.
The book's final chapter takes place in New York City, at the center of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hedges believes this was a turning point in US history.
By the end of this book, I found myself preferring Sacco. If you are a close reader, his point of view is clear, but it is controlled in such a way that you are allowed to disagree with him.
Hedges is a serious writer and thinker. He is brilliant at depicting human life at the extremes of existence and explaining the effects on the human psyche. But there is little room to form your own opinions.
How you react to being ordered to join the revolt will determine what you think about this book. If you're a believer, it will all be fuel for the fire, but the people who would learn the most from these stories will very likely have trouble getting past the first pages.
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