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War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, by Chris Hedges. New York: Public Affairs, 2002. 211 pp. $23.00 (cloth).
Nominated for a 2003 National Book award in nonfiction, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning is the account of a journalist's experience covering the world's wars, large and small, since the early 1980s. Beginning with El Salvador during the early Reagan years and ending with the American efforts against the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001, Chris Hedges reported from war zones around the world for the New York Times. Although this is not a work of sociological analysis, Hedges does produce a theoretically provocative account of the violence, cruelty, and licentious behavior that is endemic to all wars. His central thesis is that people, whether soldiers, journalists, or ordinary citizens, are repulsed by the horror of war but drawn to it as a respite from the boring routine of everyday life. For soldiers and journalists, war...