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 through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive. "It gives us purpose, meaning,...

"The lectures that follow were delievered at the Lowell Institute in Boston in November and December, 1906, and in January, 1907, at Columbia University, in New York. ... The pragmatic movement, so called -- I do not like the name, but apparently it is too late to change it -- seems to have rather suddenly precipitated itself out of the air. ... I have sought to unify the pictture as it presents itself to my own eyes, dealing in broad strokes, and...

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary." Overcoming extreme poverty, racism, and other adversities Carter Godwin...