A New Topic

This last weekend I had the opportunity to listen to a CSPAN2 BookTV interview with a man by the name of Chris Hedges. That name will be entirely new to most of you, it was to me, and yet, he may be an icon to many of you. Certainly he has a wealth of experiences and the resulting perspicacity to account for an in depth three hour interview in which I hardly ever heard him repeat himself. The interview was referred to me by my youngest son, Stephen, who, though not consecrated, has an uncanny insight into the scriptures and their meaning in our lives.

Mr. Hedges comes from a religious family. I don't remember the denomination, but his father was (is) a minister and his early life was affected by his upbringing. When he decided to enter into journalism as a career, his perspective on the world and the control of the world began to change. Thus, now he believes we are largely influenced by powers bigger and stronger than us, and, almost, to the point of being out of control. His list of books is as follow:

The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Death of the Liberal Class
War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America
What Every Person Should Know About War
When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists
Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America
Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians
I Don't Believe in Atheists
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America
Iraq: A War

There are several other books that I will read in the near future that touch upon the subject of our being influenced by society at large to ignore the import of the "cross" in our lives. One of the books is called "The Cross and the Lynching Tree" by James H. Cone. It touches upon the proclivity of the white church in the south to ignore lynchings. Another is "Been In The Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery" by Leon F. Litwack. Both books are now available in the library and I will pick them up tomorrow. Other books, based upon the reading habits of Chris Hedges include:

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The Collected Essays of George Orwell
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

I can hardly wait to get started on these books and this topic.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13