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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
"This book is a manual on war. There is no rhetoric. There are very few adjectives," Hedges proclaims in his introduction to this graphic primer. Framed as a question-and-answer manual for GIs, not "every person," the book gives perfunctory information about military social life, pay, housing and housekeeping (a "central latrine will be established for multiple camps"). But the bulk of it is concerned with battlefield carnage, madness and pathos. A gristly chapter on "Weapons and Wounds" details the bodily effects of artillery shells, incendiaries and several types of bullets. Questions like "What does it feel like to kill someone?" (exhilaration, then remorse) and sections on post-traumatic stress disorder and flashbacks probe the psychic wounds of war. A chapter on "Dying" covers topics like "Will I be frozen in the position in which I die?" ("You can be straightened out after rigor mortis has set") and "What will my last words be?" ("Many call for their mothers"). War correspondent Hedges, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (whose introductory paragraphs look a lot like their counterparts in this volume), presents this anxiety-provoking information as a grimly factual account of the true face of war-culled from "medical, psychological, and military studies"-that America shies away from in favor of sanitized myths of glory and heroism. He fails to note that depictions of gore, mayhem, psychological trauma and flashbacks have become staples of Hollywood's treatment of war even as such experiences have become less common in America's high-tech, casualty-averse military. Americans, soldiers and civilians both, could use a clear-eyed analysis of modern warfare, but this limited treatment doesn't yet provide one.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Acclaimed New York Times journalist and author Chris Hedges offers a critical -- and fascinating -- lesson in the dangerous realities of our age: a stark look at the effects of war on combatants. Utterly lacking in rhetoric or dogma, this manual relies instead on bare fact, frank description, and a spare question-and-answer format. Hedges allows U.S. military documentation of the brutalizing physical and psychological consequences of combat to speak for itself.
Hedges poses dozens of questions that young soldiers might ask about combat, and then answers them by quoting from medical and psychological studies.
• What are my chances of being wounded or killed if we go to war?• What does it feel like to get shot?
• What do artillery shells do to you?
• What is the most painful way to get wounded?
• Will I be afraid?
• What could happen to me in a nuclear attack?
• What does it feel like to kill someone?
• Can I withstand torture?
• What are the long-term consequences of combat stress?
• What will happen to my body after I die?
This profound and devastating portrayal of the horrors to which we subject our armed forces stands as a ringing indictment of the glorification of war and the concealment of its barbarity.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
What is a war? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
What is a war? Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Baltimore Catechism of War,
By
This review is from: What Every Person Should Know About War (Paperback)
I'm beginning to get the feeling Chris Hedges' books are Confession, and Act of Contrition rolled into one; and I think he's doing a good thing. I gave a stellar review to his first book, "War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning," and sent it to a young man graduating from high school in the hope it would help counter the effects of the jingoism we've been inundated with since 9/11. This second book would make a great companion piece, but in my situation, and thank goodness, it's not necessary.This is a book that should be required reading for any prospective service person. Mr. Hedges has gone way out of his way to be factual, and objective, and let the facts speak. Its purposefully under-heated style reminded me of nothing else but the Baltimore Catechism, albeit minus the dogma. If I had the wherewithal I'd supply every guidance counselor in the US with a few copies, and if I were the Secretary of any service branch I'd give a copy to every potential recruit; however, I neither have, nor am. I do wonder as to the books potential efficacy in guiding someone away from the service - not Mr. Hedges' stated purpose by the way. Eighteen year olds are immortal - I was - as well as, "young, dumb, and full of cum" - I was. Weren't you? And certainly not prone to being guided by facts - especially when our recruiting efforts are so sexy. Anthony Swofford in "Jarhead," writes about Marine recruits watching war movies - even those considered to be "anti-war" movies - and tells us that our anti-war movies are just the opposite to the troops. I can just hear a couple of prospective recruits reading about death's unraveling - "Cool..."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mission Accomplished,
By
This review is from: What Every Person Should Know About War (Paperback)
What an interesting format given the subject matter. I was expecting something along the lines of Gwynne Dyer's War but found it to be a cross between a manual and questions savvy recruits would ask before joining up. It is so factual and detached that it often borders on the surreal. What makes it work is its directness and the author's credible background as a wartime correspondent.Hedges states, "We ennoble war. We turn it into entertainment. And in all this we forget what war is about, what it does to those who wage it and those who suffer from it." So his quest is to remove our desensitization through blunt prose. I was amazed to find out that "of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history" and "108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion." The format covers a broad range of topics with such questions as what is the most painful way to get wounded?; will I be afraid?; and what does it feel like to kill somebody? Hedges' answers include George Orwell's account of being shot and are rife with facts (some needing updating based on latest conflicts). The book made me uncomfortable and removed many illusions about the glory of war so Hedges accomplished his mission.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Title Says It All,
By Django "DJ" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Every Person Should Know About War (Paperback)
This slim manual is certainly a bitter pill, but it's medicine that Americans, and especially American government officials, would be well served to hold their nose and swallow down. From the possible results of a bullet wound in different areas of the body, to the (scandalously low) payscale of soldiers, to the facts about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, to the debunking of the apocryphal story of Vietnam soldiers being spat upon by protesters, Hedges makes his report in a manner which is concise, clinical, and astonishingly objective. In an age of media reporting that sees nothing wrong with broadcasting combat footage with a canned soundtrack, this is a book which reminds us of the very real horrors of war, and the very real risks our soldiers face in a combat situation.
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