Wages of Rebellion

By: Chris Hedges

Narrated by: David deVries

Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges - who has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Class - investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance. Drawing on an ambitious overview of prominent philosophers, historians, and literary figures he shows not only the harbingers of a coming crisis but also the nascent seeds of rebellion. Hedges' message is clear: popular uprisings in the United States and around the world are inevitable in the face of environmental destruction and wealth polarization.

Focusing on the stories of rebels from around the world and throughout history, Hedges investigates what it takes to be a rebel in modern times. Utilizing the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, Hedges describes the motivation that guides the actions of rebels as "sublime madness" - the state of passion that causes the rebel to engage in an unavailing fight against overwhelmingly powerful and oppressive forces. For Hedges, resistance is carried out not for its success, but as a moral imperative that affirms life. Those who rise up against the odds will be those endowed with this "sublime madness."

From South African activists who dedicated their lives to ending apartheid, to contemporary anti-fracking protests in Alberta, Canada, to whistleblowers in pursuit of transparency, Wages of Rebellion shows the cost of a life committed to speaking the truth and demanding justice. Hedges has penned an indispensable guide to rebellion.

©2015 Chris Hedges (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Excellent, important book

I liked this book very much. I had heard Chris Hedges in fairly long interviews but had not realized the breadth of his scholarship. Shakespeare, Melville, Plato, Faulkner, and others are all invoked to weave a rich tapestry of what it means to be a rebel, what makes some people become rebels, and how certain social or cultural contexts call for rebellion. Much of the book also consists in an exposition of how economic, cultural and institutional arrangements in the United States in particular, call for (non-violent) resistance/revolt/rebellion. In Hedges' telling, the United States is not a democracy at all: corporations in effect run the government. Through the government and also through private firms sometimes (often?) hired by corporations, Americans are being spied upon and vigorously brought into line if they take serious actions (eg Wikipeaks, Snowden) to threaten the corporate agenda. Hedges also describes how the U.S. has been a violent society from its inception and how this violence is still strongly directed towards blacks (viz the corporate prison system) at home. While the need for revolt is clearly documented for the U.S., it is clear that to some degree it extends as well to other countries, such as my own, Canada. Hedges is very clear at the same time that only non-violent action is ever likely to bear fruit for good in the long term.
Finally the reading is clear and engaging.

Seminal Work!

Chris Hedges is a truth telling prophet. For me this book laid the foundation for my pursuit of Sublime Madness!

Inspiring AF

It's a difficult concept for me to concede to, that successful rebellions are nonviolent. But he makes a damn good point. Chris Hedges is an eloquent and persuasive guy.

Very eye-opening and shock!

This is a must read book, there are so many things I never knew brought to light by Chris hedges, I love how hebrought us information that is very current and information from history and quotes from many different authors to prove his point. Very very well that

timely and powerful

tells stories of inspiring individuals that go against the grain. references those who have forged this path before. talks about "sublime madness", prisons, persecution of rebellion, and the rite of passage of all rebels.

Should be more than just Audio

Like all of my other reviews, this was great content, but lacks the ability to review specific portions. I guess that's a part of the business model huh? 'Literacy' is under assault, but let's leverage people's dedication to substance so we can sell them the paper back and the digital kindle version... If that's the case, then I think you have a short-term & short-sighted business model. We need the images and text (0s & 1s) to go along with the Audio otherwise, the Audiobook is just someone reading me a story so I can go to bed more easily. Come on Amazon crew. Advocate for a customer.

Masterful exploration of what rebellion demands

This book, using dozens of current, recent, and historical rebellions as text, is must reading for those seeking to confront the entrenched forces of evil today.

Absolutely amazing

This is a must read book. It is full of information and well written. The views are often not seen elsewhere.

Well read. Beautifully written.

Ever have the sickening feeling that things are not what they appear to be? Rejoice! You are not alone.
Mr. Hedges tells it like it is.
Yes there is an elephant in the living room and yes indeed the emperor is nude and yes we're not in Kansas anymore.
So close your tv. Open your eyes, ears and mind and remember to keep your principles above the personalities. You are not alone. "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

The Reality of Sublime Madness

Once again an incredible outstanding genuine piece of literature from a highly intellectual educated man name Mr. Chris Hedges who brings forth constant compassion for truth and justice to the American people who are complicit to an age of conformity who have no objective purpose in life but to be submissive and avoid confrontation and are scared to revolt. They reward their masters instead of waging a war by rebelling their government who have made slaves of the American people by constant surveillance 24 hours a day by an invisible revolution called the silent war to destroy freedom of speech and the constitution by taking everyone's rights away. We have let the government commercialized a managed brand of democracy to manipulate a subversion ideology by curtailing ones dominant creativity and thought to incorporating a brand just like Obama a black mascot for wall street to be excepted as an charismatic image to be sold and made a fool of to the American people. Obama is worse off now more that anytime in history for excepting this de legitimize role that portrays himself as a submissive weak coward so irrelevant to any of the past black leaders in history. Obama would have destroyed Martin Luther King and knows deep inside that he could never walk in Martin Luther King's shoes who was a hero to fight for the rights of the black people. Obama is not a leader for the American people or better yet for his own kind. The black people were duped into believing that this black man during the 8 years that was in office would of waged war on the greedy cooperation's and had the audacity of prior motivations to help these corrupted corporations by bailing them out and putting himself in wall street to fulfill his greedy ambitious pocket's and obligations. Obama was just a shadow in bush's footsteps to fulfill prior obligations of the plot of 911 and to go into the Iraq war to conquer the middle east oil for Halliburton Company enterprise. Obama took from the poor and gave to the the rich. Where are the rebels and not the delusional oath keepers who serves as extremists for their own barbaric purpose of continuing this vigilante virulence that distorts the reality of truth and justice and have become the malignant cancer of the our mainstream society. We could never mention these heroes enough who put their lives on the line for truth and justice as true rebels who stood up against this psychotic democratic totalitarian unconstitutional regime called Capitalism. These heroes are Juliane Assange for exposing the violence in Iraq on journalist and kids purposely killed by our military for fun who are not heroes who die as cowards. Edward Snowden a hero leaked classified documents to the press about the FISA NSA Surveillance act and had to run for his life to Russia or else he would of have been imprisoned for the espionage act and names like Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is an American activist and whistle blower and a hero. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act, Edward William Binney a former intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and whistle blower was also charged for the espionage act, Gary Stephen Webb was an American investigative journalist who was killed but claimed to have committed suicide for exposing the drug trade with Nicaragua and the American CIA operatives under George bush stay in office. There is enormous amount of whistle blowers who have been destroyed in this country means we have been stripped of the 1st amendment of our god given right to be able to speak the truth. These men were not scared to waged rebellion and have become pariah's scrutinized persecuted mistreated discredited and has been made perceived as criminals because the United States would rather let the country get ruined instead facing their consequences of their pathetic gross injustice behavior.This country is on a continuous pattern of decline and complicit to mediocrity stagnation by individual selfishness and not reciprocating and only care of how people perceive them as a false image with no ambition of progress. This only helps the government have complete effectiveness and control of their ideology as a measure of coercion that takes place as a current model of physical and mental abuse. The government politicians lawyers judges and deal makers are rewarded by the American people being complicit to moral barriers that has become the norm of our primitive society. The best part of the book was the part about sublime madness the perfect utopia to live one's goal as a purpose of meaning and have a guide of leading a life of one's God given rights as Thomas Paine had fought for as an activist and a rebel to stand up and fight this faceless shell corporate tax dodging corporations called an American government that has created this global oblivious managed incorporated democracy as a modus operandi the United States calls an empire.To die for truth and you're true god given democratic rights that the united states government has destroyed is sublime madness. I call it the time for mass movement and moral courage of rebellion without it truth is obscure and the ethical sublime madness that gives one's life spark of true meaning to speak the truth for justice.