The Class

With the violence in Ukraine dominating headlines, the world is feeling dark — and uncertain. So today on the podcast, we’re going to spotlight a story of hope. Chris Hedges is a former war correspondent for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He’s also a Presbyterian minister and a bestselling author.

In his latest book, The Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, he tells a remarkable story that highlights both the evils of mass incarceration and the capacity of the human spirit to overcome.

Hedges has been teaching inmates since 2010. In The Class, he chronicles one group’s powerful journey writing a play — and how healing it was for the twenty-eight students involved, who were serving a combined 515 years behind bars. (The play, Caged, was later staged in New Jersey, and went on to be published.)

The brilliant Chris Hedges is our guest on today’s episode of Lean Out.