War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
Chris Hedges
"Drawing on the literature of combat, from Homer and Shakespeare to Erich Maria Remarque and Michael Herr, Hedges shows how human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls "the myth of war" - the idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious. And yet if human history is any guide, nations and imperiums have stumbled and even fallen when they believed the myths peddled about war and about themselves. The reality of war, which Hedges knows first-hand, is about the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life."--BOOK JACKET.
Award History
0 wins · 1 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor | 2002 | Finalist | Secondary source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
02 Central places
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
03 Suggested argument
Hedges argues that people are conditioned to accept the “myth of war,” but the reality of war destroys culture and corrupts desire, with nations collapsing when they believe those myths.
Model confidence 66%
04 Reading orientation
35 / 100 academicSerious trade
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 58%.