Grand Illusion - Read by Eunice Wong

Grand Illusion - Read by Eunice Wong

From The Chris Hedges Report Podcast by Chris Hedges

January 16, 2026 · 13 min

About this episode

Eunice Wong reads an article discussing the cyclical nature of empires and the idolization of war.

This article is read by Eunice Wong , a Juilliard-trained actor, featured on Audible’s list of Best Women Narrators . Her work is on the annual Best Audiobooks lists of the New York Times, Audible, AudioFile, & Library Journal. www.eunicewong.actor Text originally published January 8, 2026 . The Chris Hedges Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Full Text: All empires, when they are dying, worship the idol of war. War will save the empire. War will resurrect past glory. War will teach an unruly world to obey. But those who bow down before the idol of war, blinded by hypermasculinity and hubris, are unaware that while idols begin by calling for the sacrifice of others, they end by demanding self-sacrifice. Ekpyrosis, the inevitable conflagration that destroys the world according to the ancient Stoics, is part of the cyclical nature of time. There is no escape. Fortuna . There is a time for individual death. There is a time for collective death. In the end, with weary citizens yearning for extinction, empires light their own funeral pyre. Our high priests of war, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Hedges

Guest: Eunice Wong

Topics covered

  • war
  • empire
  • sacrifice
  • politics
  • history
  • hubris

Keywords

  • war
  • empire
  • sacrifice
  • hubris
  • politics
  • history
  • Eunice Wong

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Chris Hedges Report

Places: Austro-Hungarian Empire, imperial Germany, Tsarist Russia

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