what every person should know about war by chris hedges

That statistic reminds me of Daniel Goleman (who wrote 'Emotional Intelligence') that one percent of all people have a sociopathic personality who lack empathy for others and only think of themselves. Col Grossman, who also wrote the book Killology, that 'It is not too far off the mark to observe that there's something about continuous, inescapable combat which will drive 98 percent of all men insane, and the other two percent were crazy when they got there.' The remaining two percent had aggressive psychopathic personalities which allows them to not be affected by the stresses of combat.

Media portrayals of combat show a sanitized reality of death and destruction, with whole bodies and peaceful expressions of death, but the truth is that bodies can be mutilated, disfigured, or burned, and soldiers can remain alive after being wounded. The vast majority of people do not like to kill other people. The sections which caught my attention was how people adapt to combat.

I found the arc of chapters clever as well, following the progression of a person from joining the military to questions of combat, wounds and injuries, dying, and life after the war. The book is a quick read and incredibly interesting, with the text in a question-and-answer format. This profound and devastating portrayal of the horrors to which we subject our armed forces stands as a ringing indictment of the glorification of war and the concealment of its barbarity.Ī truly informative book on the reality of war and its effects on people. What will happen to my body after I die?.What are the long-term consequences of combat stress?.What does it feel like to kill someone?.What could happen to me in a nuclear attack?.What is the most painful way to get wounded?.What are my chances of being wounded or killed if we go to war?.Hedges poses dozens of questions that young soldiers might ask about combat, and then answers them by quoting from medical and psychological studies. military documentation of the brutalizing physical and psychological consequences of combat to speak for itself. Utterly lacking in rhetoric or dogma, this manual relies instead on bare fact, frank description, and a spare question-and-answer format. Acclaimed New York Times journalist and author Chris Hedges offers a critical - and fascinating - lesson in the dangerous realities of our age: a stark look at the effects of war on combatants.

What every person should know about war by chris hedges