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Town Hall Seattle: Civics Series

Town Hall’s Civics series highlights everything from local policies to world politics. These events offer perspectives on a range of topics as diverse as Seattle itself—a bustling forum for activism, discovery, and thought-provoking discussion.

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Oct 22, 2018

How do we keep ourselves from losing faith in our country? Pulitzer Prize­-winning reporter Chris Hedges took Town Hall’s stage for a provocative examination of America in crisis—in the form of his book America: The Farewell Tour. America, says Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of a profound malaise of hopelessness. These have resulted in an epidemic of diseases of despair and a civil society that has ceased to function. Hedges asserted that the opioid crisis, the rise of magical thinking, the celebration of sadism, and a host of other ills are the physical manifestations of a society ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. Join Hedges for a sobering discussion of the changing landscape of our country—and a poignant cry from communities across America that seeks to jolt us out of complacency while there is still time.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig out of Los Angeles and is host of the Emmy Award­–winning RT America show “On Contact.” He is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists, Days of Destruction­, Days of Revolt, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

Recorded live at Seattle University by Town Hall Seattle on Monday, October 8, 2018.