Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

· Hachette UK
2 reviews
Ebook
240
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

From a bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a scathing polemic against the spectacle-obsessed culture that has taken over American life.

“A trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American Dream by unfettered capitalism.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

An instant bestseller, Chris Hedges’s Empire of Illusion is one of the most striking and unsettling explorations of illusion and fantasy in contemporary American culture.

Traveling to the ringside of professional wrestling bouts at Madison Square Garden, to a pornography convention in Las Vegas, and to academic conferences held by positive psychologists—who claim to be able to engineer happiness—Hedges chronicles the encroachment of artifice and propaganda in all corners of American life. He exposes the mechanisms used to divert us from confronting the economic, environmental, political, and moral collapse around us.

A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies, Hedges argues, and we are dying now.

From a bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a scathing polemic against the spectacle-obsessed culture that has taken over American life. “A trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American Dream by unfettered capitalism.” —Philadelphia Inquirer An instant b...

Ratings and reviews

2 reviews

About the author

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. He was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he was their Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He is a New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Death of the Liberal Class, and American Fascists. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University and writes at chrishedges.substack.com. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. He was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he was their Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He is a New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Mea...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.