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War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

by Chris Hedges

4.10 · rating details · 1,550 ratings · 260 reviews

As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges, who is also a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass throu...more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published June 10th 2003 by Anchor (first published 2002)

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Community Reviews

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Jun 20, 2008

Ryan rated it

Recommends it for: George W. Bush

Shelves: favorite

Read this book to be disturbed. The author is a seasoned war correspondent who's been in the thick of warfare from El Salvador and Guatemala to Iraq and Bosnia. It is an anti-war treatise by a man who admits being addicted to war.

Hedges describes that he is "hooked" on the narcotic of war, on the rush that it gives. It's a world where power is all that matters. The meek do not inherit the Earth; they are murdered, and then often mutilated. The book is a philosophical inquir...moreRead this book to be disturbed. The author is a seasoned war correspondent who's been in the thick of warfare from El Salvador and Guatemala to Iraq and Bosnia. It is an anti-war treatise by a man who admits being addicted to war.

Hedges describes that he is "hooked" on the narcotic of war, on the rush that it gives. It's a world where power is all that matters. The meek do not inherit the Earth; they are murdered, and then often mutilated. The book is a philosophical inquiry into What War Is. It feels like it gives meaning to the lives of the men fighting it, he says, but it does so by playing to our most animal instincts, and by obscuring and numbing all that make our regular lives joyful. And by destroying individualism, turning people into objects, and life into a myth.

I read the book with a yellow highlighter in one hand, to mark the passages that really stuck with me. One:

"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. . . . It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble." (page 3)

Another:

"Most of those who are thrust into combat soon find it impossible to maintain the mythic perception of war. . . . Wars that lose their mythic stature for the public, such as Korea or Vietnam, are doomed to failure, for war is exposed for what it is - organized murder." (page 21)

Here is a description of what war does to us: Our minds, our culture, our love of our fellow man. It makes us lie to ourselves and to each other. The book was published in 2002, after the 9/11 attacks, and just on the eve of America's invasion of Iraq. It describes how a culture can censor itself into believing a great cause and squash the speech of any who disagree (e.g., Scott Ritter, or The Dixie Chicks). Another quote:

"By destroying authentic culture - that which allows us to question and examine ourselves and our society - the state erodes the moral fabric. It is replaced with a warped version of reality. The enemy is dehumanized; the universe starkly divided between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. . . . Cultural or national symbols that do not support the crusade are often ruthlessly removed." (page 63)

Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mutilation, the killing of innocents; it is all the side of war unseen to those supporting it. The war is enabled by myth, and the myth is a lie. The lie is captivating and grabs us all. Every nation feels like it is fighting the ultimate evil, and they have no choice but to defeat it. The war will only end when the lie has collapsed under overwhelming evidence - hard-fought, over a long time. All that is left when the lie disappears is guilt, and shame, and the holes in people's lives where loved ones used to be. And the anger of the victims: The seeds of the next war.

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Aug 12, 2010

Bobby rated it

I think I'm finally ready to review this book. I've given it a few weeks to settle in my mind.

I'm prepared to say that this book is important enough that everyone should read it. It asks questions of us as a society that need to be considered and answered by each individual before we take measures to begin or escalate any armed conflict.

Hedges does an amazing job of forcing these questions to the table in a concise and direct way respecting both the philosophical dimens...more

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Dec 07, 2007

James rated it

The imagery and polemic of this book are strong. His take on war is brutal and honest enough that I found myself deeply affected at many points. And his prose is wonderful. Ergo, I can't say I didn't like it, but I wanted to like it more than I did.

But the style was off-putting to say the least. Like any good journalist, Hedges does an excellent job relaying experience and retelling stories from others. But each chapter is filled with episodes he recounts, that seem haphazardly ...more

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Jun 10, 2008

Tracy rated it

Shelves: theory

This is a wonderful and brutal book.

Hedges draws on a number of brilliant thinkers...and he draws on his own experience in order to describe the effects of war on us.

He says, in part, that we humans crave meaning, and war gives us meaning in a more intense fashion than anything else. What else could so quickly and easily delineate who the enemy is? It's the person trying to kill me! What else could shape life so perfectly but the need to save my own skin?

Hedges expe...more

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Jul 08, 2008

Sarah rated it

Recommended to Sarah by: Jonathan Morgenstern

Shelves: non-fiction, 2008-reads, favorites

So excellent.

Question: Why do you feel so intensely in war? Yet it fades so quick?
"There are few individual relationships- the only possible way to form friendships- in war. ... Comrades seek to lose their identities in the relationship. Friends do not... Friends find themselves in each other and thereby gain greater self-knowledge and self-possession. They discover... unknown potentialities for joy and understanding. The struggle to remain friends, the struggle to explo...moreSo excellent.

Question: Why do you feel so intensely in war? Yet it fades so quick?
"There are few individual relationships- the only possible way to form friendships- in war. ... Comrades seek to lose their identities in the relationship. Friends do not... Friends find themselves in each other and thereby gain greater self-knowledge and self-possession. They discover... unknown potentialities for joy and understanding. The struggle to remain friends, the struggle to explore the often painful recesses of two hearts, to reach the deepest parts of another's being, to integrate our own emotions and desires with th needs of the friend, are challenged by the collective rush of war. There are fewer demands if we join the crowd and give our emotions over to the communal crusade."

Question: Why are survivors so outcast and stigmatized?
There is a spiritual collapse after war. Societies struggle with the wanton destruction not only of property and cities but of those they loved. The erosion of morality and social responsibility becomes painfully evident in war's wake. Many feel used. By then it is too late.... In the wake of the war comes a normalization that levels victims and perpetrators. Victims and survivors are is an awkward reminder of the collective complicity. Their presence inspires discomfort. So too with perpetrators. But it is often the victims who suffer the worst bouts of guilt and remorse. Many victims grasp, in a way the perpetrators do not, the inverted moral hierarchy. They see this inversion in their own struggle to survive. They realize, in a way that the perpetrators again do not, that the difference between the oppressed and the oppressors is not absolute. And they often wonder if they could have done more to save those who were lost around them.

Question: Why do we feel so erotic and alive in a war zone?
"We discover in the communal struggle, the shared sense of meaning and purpose, a cause. War fills our spiritual void. I do not miss war, but I miss what it brought. I can never say I was happy in the midst of fighting but I had a sense of purpose, a calling. And this is a quality war shares with love, for we are, in love. (less)

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Jan 29, 2008

Leah rated it

Recommends it for: anyone who likes war movies because they wish they were in them

Outstanding book. The author (a former war reporter) discusses the addictive nature of war, both for soldiers and the public. "War" becomes an idealized fiction that we rally around--that "gives us meaning," gives us a purpose, gives us a way to join together as a nation, but that the actual reality of what a war is and what it entails is beyond any experience that one can truly describe. War is beyond hell. A true experience of war is something that can never be captured...more

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Jan 15, 2008

Lubna rated it

Recommends it for: evereyone

Everyone should read this book. Its amazing & lays bare the lies that surround the glorification and promotion of war. It shows war for what it is - a messy, ugly, evil that brings out the worst in humanity. Hedges, a war correspondent, intersperses his eyewitness accounts of war with ruminations on the nature of war and what it is that attracts humanity and keeps us in a state of war. His conclusions - that the pursuit of truth is necessary to pierce the lies that surround war and that individu...more

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Mar 22, 2007

grace rated it

one of the most powerful books i have ever read. my review (posted on my blog immediately after reading it):

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, writes Chris Hedges, and upon completion of what The New York Times called his "powerful chronicle of modern war... a potent and eloquent warning," I do not feel guilty or ashamed of being human-- no, instead I am paralyzed with fear. Hedges takes no sides in his painfully poignant work, except perhaps the side of humanity, ...moreone of the most powerful books i have ever read. my review (posted on my blog immediately after reading it):

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, writes Chris Hedges, and upon completion of what The New York Times called his "powerful chronicle of modern war... a potent and eloquent warning," I do not feel guilty or ashamed of being human-- no, instead I am paralyzed with fear. Hedges takes no sides in his painfully poignant work, except perhaps the side of humanity, which as Freud writes and he notes, exists defined by the inescapable dynamic between Eros and Death and is compelled by its very nature to seek out self-destruction. Fascinating and profoundly disturbing, this book explores the dizzyingly narcotic elements of war and the atrocities-- in horrifyingly accounts from personal experience-- of which man is not only capable, but to which he is driven. "And yet, despite all this, I am not a pacifist," Hedges allows; "I wrote this book not to dissuade us from war but to understand it... this book is not a call for inaction. It is a call for repentance."

Reminiscent of Desmond Tutu’s No Future Without Forgiveness, Hedges postulates that “the only antidote to ward off self-destruction is humility and ultimately compassion.” Borrowing from Homer, Shakespeare, Bosnian Nobel laureates, and Holocaust survivor Ka’Tzetnik, his reports draw from his years as a foreign correspondent to conclude that:
"Happiness is elusive and protean. And it is sterile when devoid of meaning. But meaning, when it is set in the vast arena of war with its high stakes, its adrenaline-driven rushes, its bold sweeps and drama, is heartless and self-destructive. The initial selflessness of war mirrors that of love, the chief emotion war destroys. And this is what war often looks and feels like, at its inception: love... We are tempted to reduce life to a simple search for happiness. Happiness, however, withers if there is no meaning. The other temptation is to disavow the search for happiness in order to be faithful to that which provides meaning. But to live only for meaning-- indifferent to all happiness-- makes us fanatic, self-righteous, and cold. It leaves us cut off from our own humanity and the humanity of others. We must hope for grace, for our lives to be sustained by moments of meaning and happiness, both equally worthy of human communion."

I find myself almost wishing as I lounge on my plush carpet under a window filled with sunlit trees and blues on of the most beautiful days of the year thus far, that I hadn’t read this book, or that I could write it off as from another world, another species. But "Aristotle said that only two living entities are capable of complete solitude and complete separateness: God and beast. Because of this... the isolated individual can never be adequately human... if we do not acknowledge such an attraction [to war], which is, in some ways, akin to love, we can never combat it."(less)

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May 28, 2007

Beth Barnett rated it

This is an incredibly powerful book about the reality of war, written by a former war correspondent. Hedges discusses the myth and reality of war, the reality of the presence of death, desecration and disrespect of the living and the dead in war, the victimization of innocents and those who attempt to be moral, and the jingoism of the press that usually covers up these horrible realities. Hedges also describes the draw toward war he and others have felt for its excitement and risk. The book d...more

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Oct 03, 2007

Audra Wolfe rated it

Recommends it for: intellectual war protestors

Shelves: bookclub

I wanted to love this book. My rating doesn't quite do it justice. It's very well done, but so depressing that I just couldn't bear to finish it, so while I only gave it 2 stars, on an absolute scale it's probably more of a 4 or 5.

Chris Hedges, the author, is an experienced war correspondent who have covered countless wretched international conflicts, including El Salvador, Bosnia, Sudan, Israel and Palestine. Like the title says, the overall theme is the addictive power of war to gi...more

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Mar 12, 2009

Michela rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 10, 2011

Trishnyc rated it

This is a very well written book that explores and examines war, its meanings, reasons and justifications. It tries to take on all sides of war, the victors and the victims and how they view the outcome of their struggles. I liked how the author discussed the ways in which war allows those who wage it to see the world in as black and white, absolutes with little shades of gray in between. "They" are bad and "We" are good. This kind of thinking allows the suspension of intros...more

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Jan 31, 2010

Paul Graf rated it

In the introduction to his searing portrait of war, Chris Hedges writes, "I have been in ambushes on desolate stretches of Central American roads, shot at in the marshes of southern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police, deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by the Iraqi Republican Guard during the Shiite rebellion following the Gulf War, strafed by Russian Mig-21s in Bosnia, fired upon by Serb snipers, and shelled for days in Sarajevo with deaf...moreIn the introduction to his searing portrait of war, Chris Hedges writes, "I have been in ambushes on desolate stretches of Central American roads, shot at in the marshes of southern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police, deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by the Iraqi Republican Guard during the Shiite rebellion following the Gulf War, strafed by Russian Mig-21s in Bosnia, fired upon by Serb snipers, and shelled for days in Sarajevo with deafening rounds of heavy artillery that threw out thousands of deadly bits of iron fragments." Hedges has seen war, and its effect upon those who wage it, at close range. And in War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, he brings fifteen years of experience reporting from the front lines to bear on the very nature of war itself, its causes and consequences, and the physical, emotional, and moral devastation it leaves in its wake.

Hedges argues that war is both a deadly addiction—a drug that offers an unmatchable intoxication, the thrill of being released from the moral strictures of everyday life—and a unifying force that provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and self-sacrifice that can wash away life's trivial concerns. But the meaningfulness of combat, Hedges suggests, depends upon the myth of war. In reality, no matter what grand cause it is supposed to support, war is simply the basest form of aggression: "organized murder." Once war begins, the moral universe collapses and every manner of atrocity can be justified in the eyes of those who wage it, because the cause is just, the enemy is inhuman, and only war can restore balance to the world. Hedges reveals the hollowness of such thinking and makes an impassioned plea for humility, love, and compassion as the human race's only hope for survival. Only when a nation can accept its share of blame and see its enemy with compassion rather than hatred can war be averted and true peace prevail.

Combining a great erudition of the literature of war—from Homer to Shakespeare to Viktor Frankl—with an unflinching focus on the particular and terrifying reality of combat, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a sobering book whose relevance could not be more pointed.(less)

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Feb 11, 2010

Stuart rated it

Recommends it for: Foreign policy hobbyists, soldiers

First off, here is my (limited) background related to this subject. I've lived in one country involved in a war, Israel in 1973. The closest I got to the fighting was when I was visiting a friend near the Golan Heights. I remember waking up in the middle of the night from the explosions of bombs in fields a few hundred yards away. To say that I was filled with fear is an understatement.

That war was a "just" one from the Israeli standpoint. It resulted in the death of t...more

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May 12, 2011

Daniel Roy rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, essay, politics, favorite

Hedges' lucid and haunting examination of war feels like a punch to the gut. Yet it's not so much an anti-war manifesto - Hedges downright comes out in support of war in specific circumstances, such as NATO intervention in Bosnia - as a brutally honest introspection of the forces at play during conflict.

Frankly, this book should be required reading for anyone who ever considered the fallacy of 'just war'. As much as it doesn't condemn war outright, Hedges' essay carefully deconstructs ...more

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Dec 08, 2008

Liam rated it

So far what's captivated me is the description of how war really changes people and societies. It is interesting how the former nation of Yugoslavia went from a state dominated by the ideology of Marx, to a nation dominated by fascist nationalism on all sides. Hedges spends the majority of book comparing the dark side of war with his experiences and observations, not just in Yugoslavia, but in central America during the 1980's, aswell as Kuwait/Iraq during the gulf war. Written before the Bush a...more

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Nov 10, 2010

Jennifer rated it

This book really made me question some of the beliefs I have about war that I've never questioned before, such as the US is always the good guy in war and that whomever we fight are inherently evil. It's obviously more complex than that, and Hedges explores that complexity with eloquence and the hindsight that comes from a being a thoughtful foreign war correspondent. War is hell, but it can also be addictive, Hedges says, a powerful narcotic for people looking for meaning in their lives (hence ...moreThis book really made me question some of the beliefs I have about war that I've never questioned before, such as the US is always the good guy in war and that whomever we fight are inherently evil. It's obviously more complex than that, and Hedges explores that complexity with eloquence and the hindsight that comes from a being a thoughtful foreign war correspondent. War is hell, but it can also be addictive, Hedges says, a powerful narcotic for people looking for meaning in their lives (hence the title.)

When unthinkable acts of violence are committed in times of war, people look away, and when the war is over, they deny these atrocities or attempt to erase them from history. Part of this denial is due to the need to preserve "the sanctity of the cause that is crucial to the war effort." It's a myth that we all conspire to believe. Once soldiers see the reality of warfare they discover the truth behind that myth, and are forever changed. Killing can leave soldiers with PTSD for years after, or it can make them numb to human suffering. We need to recognize that the reality of war is far from what you and I experience at the movies. War will always be a fact of life on earth, but those who do harm should make an effort to recognize it and not bury it deep after the fact.

I didn't view this as an anti-war book, persay. In fact, I think the book gives civilians a more accurate view into the lives of the people who choose (or are drafted) to fight for their country.

I wrote down a bunch of quotes that resonated with me. Here's just one:

"As long as we think abstractly, as long as we find in patriotism and the exuberance of war our fulfillment, we will never understand those who do battle for us and how we should respond to it all. We will never discover who we are. We will fail to confront the capacity we all have for violence. And we will court our own extermination. By accepting the facile cliche that the battle under way against terrorism is a battle against evil, by easily branding those who fight us as barbarians, we, like them, refuse to acknowledge our own culpability. We ignore real injustices that have led many of those arrayed against us to their rage and despair."(less)

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Jul 11, 2011

Leonardo Etcheto rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: WSJ

Very illuminating book. Author has a classical education and it shows. Helped me understand a few aspects of the human condition that I have always found fascinating: one how so many soldiers that have faced death come out of battle and all they want is R&R (booze, drugs and sex) and two how one generation fights a horrible war, does their best to forget and repel it by creating a safe haven for their families (suburbia) and the next generation is self-destructive because everything is safe...more

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Apr 20, 2010

Benji rated it

it is not what i expected... i thought it would be more about how war gives meaning to our lives; it is sort of, except that he argues war is built on myth and the toll it has on the human condition. he doesn't argue that war has a meaning, only that outside forces create the meaning to justify the war, only to have that meaning perpetuated so that the state could continue to exist. a key issue he did not deal with is the just war theory. he did not ever provide an example for when war is jus...more

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Jun 05, 2009

Melissa rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2009

a harrowing but absolutely unforgettable book about war and the effect it has on society. hedges is a foreign correspondent who worked for fifteen years covering wars in el salvador, guatemala, nicaragua, colombia, the west bank, sudan, yemen, algeria, iraq, turkey, bosnia and kosovo. these experiences enabled him to discover the themes and experiences that are part of all wars. hedges also inserts passages from literature which reflect his experiences covering these conflicts. it is an inte...more

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Feb 06, 2012

A. Perdian rated it

This is an excellent, albeit short book. I couldn't put it down.

The author explains why war is so addictive, in that it gives meaning to our existence. And he's right on! His insight comes from years of pragmatic experience, not as an armchair general. As a former reporter for the New York Times, he covered wars all over the globe.

For the many among us buffeted by life—bereft of a driving purpose for living—war can provide the ultimate meaning for our existence. You become in...more

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Sep 17, 2011

Karl rated it

One notable quote out of many:
“As long as we think abstractly, as long as we find in patriotism and the exuberance of war our fulfillment, we will never understand those who do battle against us, or how we are perceived by them, or finally those who do battle for us and how we should respond to it all. We will never discover who we are. We will fail to confront the capacity we all have for violence. And we will court our own extermination. By accepting the facile cliché that the battle un...more

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Nov 13, 2009

John Caneday rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

Hedges spent two decades as a war correspondent before writing this anti-war book. He doesn't call himself a pacifist, but has found it difficult to find any good in war. He saw the wars in El Salvador, Serbia, Angola, and more. In this book he writes of the common denominators in all of them. War corrupts even the best of people, turning them into bloodthirsty savages. But worse, it unleashes criminals and gives them moral cover for their wickedness. War leaves absolute destruction in its...more

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Aug 04, 2011

Maiga Milbourne rated it

Hedges is a beautiful, poetic writer. This is an important book-- Hedges examines the addiction to war that has shaped so much modern life. He's careful to illuminate how war infects all involved, and ultimately very few are innocent. Furthermore, this idea of innocents can dangerously further polarizing ideas fueling wars.

I highly reccomend this book for activists, as well as for its literary value. Hedges is careful to not assign full blame on any one group, which seems to be a measured ...more

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Jan 29, 2011

Diane rated it

· review of another edition

Contents from TOC: The Myth of War; The Plague of Nationalism; The Destruction of Culture; The Seduction of Battle and the Perversion of War; The Hijacking and Recovery of Memory; The Cause [for which we say we fight]; Eros and Thanatos [summarized by me as the Greek dualism, the choice between and ultimate triumph of one or the other: human love with its high, idealistic emotion, its self-sacrifice and tenderness, on the one hand, and the addictive, enticing drug of hate, violence and death on ...more

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Jan 22, 2012

Doug rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is a force that gives one meaning!

Filled with deeply personal accounts, Hedges exposes the difference between the Myth and Reality of War. Not afraid of introspection and the self-analysis that comes with it, the author delves into War's effect on the human psyche with brutal sincerity.

Everyone knows -- or thinks they know -- the physical destruction War causes. Not only does the book dwarf any idea one had about the sheer amount of physical destruction, it il...more

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Jun 09, 2011

Curtis rated it

I really don't know that much about Chris Hedges but I feel compelled to check out more of his work after reading this book. This is an excellent book, but something about his personality seems a bit too full on at times in this book. His writing is vivid and evocative. His life experiences and perspectives as they come off the page, paint a clear picture of the inane violence and heartbreak that surrounds war in all its mighty futility. I think this book should be a mandatory read for anyon...more

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Aug 23, 2011

Richard Etzel rated it

Shelves: political

From Central America to the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans to Iraq and Iran Chris Hedges has been a war correspondent and now has into print his impressions of what war does to those caught in it, the soldiers who fight in war--friends and enemies alike--and the propaganda used to get us who have not been present on the battlefields of war to suppor it. He concludes that the war force gives us meaning and a reason for living. His book is at once enlightening and fearful to the reader. Even...more

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Oct 04, 2009

Kristin rated it

A disturbing read, but I do believe it possesses some very important insights into the obsession that man seems to have for war. I recommend it to provide a new outlook on something we often don't think enough about. Combined with viewing "Bowling for Columbine," thoughts on humans and their violent tendencies, for me, have been extensive and ... though I haven't felt satisfied with answers, I feel intrigued by the subject in somehow trying to understand what the heck is going on on th...more

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Feb 25, 2009

Tim rated it

Hedges, as a war correspondent for the New York Times, covered the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s and conflicts elsewhere on the globe. This book is part of his personal effort to break his own form of the addiction to which war gives rise in most whom it touches. War destroys flesh and stone and steel as he makes clear. But war fills with fear those it touches and singles out survival as life's sole purpose. The end of war is the destruction of that purpose and, for many, a subsequent eva...more

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About Chris Hedges

Christopher Lynn Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies.
Hedges is known as the best-selling author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
Chris Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in...more

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Books by Chris Hedges

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“There are always people willing to commit unspeakable human atrocity in exchange for a little power and privilege.” — 19 people liked it

“The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living.” — 10 people liked it

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