Chris Hedges hasn't given up on America. That may not be the immediate impression from his reporting, nor from his books, where he describes "the opioid crisis, the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress, the pornification of culture, the rise of magical thinking, the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides." But grasping the unvarnished reality is essential to fixing everything that's gone wrong both nationally and worldwide. Hedges' work, from his contribution to the New York Time's 2002 Pulitzer Prize to his most recent book America: The Farewell Tour urges us not to compromise as we assess today's political and societal realities. And he says that neither mainstream political party addresses our systemic problems - nor can they, until our country's "corporate coup d’état" is reversed.

Chris Hedges served as a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. His bestselling books include American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacyand the Triumph of Spectacle, and War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. Hedges is a Senior Fellow at The Nation Institute and writes an online column for the web site Truthdig.