The book cover of Chris The book cover of Chris Hodges's Death of the Liberal Class. You can view the book on Amazon.

As I generally do, I was listening to National Public Radio (my driving companion when I'm not listing to gangster rap) and I first heard a story Hedges Laments The 'Death Of The Liberal Class'. I was struck listening to Hodges talk about his life and the liberal class. It was a soon after that that I ended up being at Barnes & Nobel and quickly bought the book when I saw it. You must understand that this is about a year (I don't know why it took me so long to read it, it was really good), and I was spending a lot of time at anywhere that had wireless internet.

I started reading it for a while, and then I put it down for a while, but kept picking it back up. Don't let the fact that it took me a year to read cause you to believe that it's not a good book. It was very engrossing, educational, and inspirational in its own way. He goes from describing what the liberal class was originally, to how it has been dismantled and loss of the processes which used to inhabit and permit the class. My favorite chapter is the one on liberal defectors, because I feel it is always so powerful to hear peoples stories. The final chapter is about titled rebellion and encourages the reader to rebel against the system.

Other then the topics and information of the book, I especially enjoyed Hodges vocabulary. The following some of the words that were new to me (although in my little book there were a lot more that I wrote down):

• Tepid
• Bromide
• Misogyny
• Muckraker
• Deracinate
• Blight

Breath of Life

God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Master God, only you know that."

He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"

God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"

I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.

He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, 'God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"

So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.

Then God said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they're saying: 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there's nothing left of us.'

"Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, 'God, the Master, says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I'll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize that I am God. I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize that I am God. I've said it and I'll do it. God's Decree.'"

While there is a lot of people much smarter then me that discuss what the significance of the Dry Bones Prophesy is in Ezekiel. I'm not claiming that God was talking about the libral class (although that is kind of a funny thought due to how conservative some Christians appear to be. But I do think it is a very visual scene that could portray where the the liberal class is as Hodges describes it.

It is a book that I would highly recommend to read. I think it is timely right now, too. While it was written prior to the Occupy Wallstreet Movement but I think that it is along the same lines.