The 10 Commandments -- the laws given to Moses by God -- are beyond the scope of human law. They are rules meant to hold us together but, when dishonored, they lead to discord and violence.
In this fierce, articulate narrative, Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, looks through the lens of each commandment to examine the moral ruin of American society. With urgency and passion, he challenges readers to take a hard look at the disconnect between their supposed values and the shallow, self-absorbed lives many people actually lead.
Taking examples from his personal life and twenty years of reporting, Hedges explores one commandment at a time, each through a particular social group. With each story, he reveals the universal nature of personal suffering, discovery, and redemption -- and explores the laws that we have tried to follow, often unsuccessfully, for the past 6,000 years.

About The Author

Photograph by Thomas Hedges

Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans for fifteen years for The New York Times. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He is host of the Emmy Award–nominated RT America show On Contact. Hedges, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, is the author of numerous books, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He has taught college credit courses through Rutgers University in the New Jersey prison system since 2013.

Product Details

Publisher: Free Press (June 7, 2005)
Length: 224 pages
ISBN13: 9780743274807

Raves and Reviews

"At a time when the mere mention of religion can excite so much passion . . . and discord, Losing Moses on the Freeway offers sane and bracing ways to think about, and rethink, the whole subject of faith." -- O, The Oprah Magazine

"Unfailingly well-written, compelling, and disturbing. . . . It's not an easy faith that Hedges describes, and that is the point." -- The American Prospect

"Hedges' main point is that America is a nation marked by self-satisfaction, false piety, hypocrisy, and covetousness and that its institutions and culture aid and abet these very real failings. . . . If you're fed up with the sorry state of things in America today and aren't sure why, Hedges lays it out for you here." -- Baltimore Sun