Death of the Liberal Class

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges makes a forceful case that liberal institutions have failed Americans by ceding power to self-serving and elitist corporations

“Uncompromising. . . . Hedges indicts the press, the Church, the arts, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party for failing to protect the middle and lower classes.” —The New Yorker

History has shown time and time again that when the liberal class ceases to function, as happened in Tsarist Russia, Weimar Germany, and the former Yugoslavia, it opens a Pandora’s box of evils that infect the remnants of a civil society. In this devastating critique, Pulitzer Prize–winner Chris Hedges chronicles the gradual corruption and death of the liberal class, which no longer provides an institutional check to mitigate corporate control of politics, education, labor, the arts, religious institutions, and financial systems.

Although the liberal class was always compromised by its embrace of the power elite, as well as its deep hostility to American radicals, it nevertheless provided a mechanism to make incremental reform possible. But with the rise of the corporate state, it has been rendered impotent by its embrace of unfettered capitalism, the national security state, globalization, and staggering income inequalities. Consequently, the anger among the working and the middle class is, without a functioning liberal class, being expressed in ideologies that detest democratic institutions and the civilities of a liberal democracy. 

• “Uncompromising. . . . Hedges indicts the press, the Church, the arts, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party for failing to protect the middle and lower classes from the depredations of corporations.”

  The New Yorker

• “Hedges is an engaging writer, and his passion alone makes for a compelling read. . . . Offers those of us who dare to refer to ourselves as liberal a lot to think about.”

  Harvard Political Review

• “Hedges raises some critical points that are as convincing as they are depressing. It’s an important little book for anyone who is concerned with the current state of the Democratic Party and liberalism in general.”

  HuffPost

• “Hedges is a fine writer. And the outrage that fairly pours off the pages of his book gives it punch and gusto.”

  Winnipeg Free Press

• “While every page erupts with calamities of the human spirit worthy of their own irate broadcasts and bull-horned fury, Hedges is at his best when he unpacks the density of his polemic and embraces the power of his narrative. . . . These insights come not just as warning, but as witness.”

  Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

• “This is a thoughtful analysis of why and how liberals have compromised principles due to the allure of power and wealth.”

  Booklist