Product Description

In this important new collection of interviews with the acclaimed radio journalist David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky discuses U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 world. Barsamian has a unique rapport with Chomsky – having conducted more interviews and radio broadcasts with him than any other journalist – and here explores topics Chomsky has never before discussed: the 2004 presidential campaign and election; the future of Social Security; the increasing threat of global warming; and new dangers presented by the United States' ever-deepening entanglement in Iraq. The result is an illuminating dialogue with one of the world's leading thinkers – and a startling picture of the turbulent world in which we live.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75322 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Noam Chomsky is the author of numerous bestselling political works, from American Power and the New Mandarins in the 1960s to Hegemony or Survival in 2003. A professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, he is widely credited with having revolutionized modern linguistics. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts. David Barsamian is founder and director of Alternative Radio, an independent, award-winning weekly radio programme. He has authored several books of interviews with leading political thinkers, including Arundhati Roy, Howard Zinn and Edward Said.

Customer Reviews

Weak offering from great author
Professor Noam Chomsky has written some great books but this one is not one of them. Fair enough, he didn't actually "write" this one, being as it is, a "conversation with Noam Chomsky."

The problem lies in that Chomsky's ideas are not tested by the interviewer; there is little illumination to be gained from a gentle probing from a fellow-traveller. Rather, if Chomsky were to be challenged by somebody who was prepared to contradict his arguments, then in the marketplace of ideas, the truth would out. Those arguments that were strong would become stronger and those that were weak could be superceded by others.

I give this two stars simply for the fact that it does contain interesting material. However, if you want to a read a book where Chomsky's ideas are rigorously explored and challenged, this isn't it. If you want to read a conversation betwixt Chomsky and a sycophant, this is the one for you.

Chomsky: The Magnanimous Polemicist
Most readers of Chomsky view him like they view marmite: They either love his views, or hate them. While Chomsky would disapprove of blind following, it's easy to see why so many people, including myself at one time, worship him. From page one, you see our society's faults unravelled meticulously, using reliable sources (Chomsky makes a point of using quotes from the institutions he is campaigning against, and to test hypothesises on their terms), and with such sophistication and proved to such an extent which many activists immediately love him for.

However, you must, as you would with other authors, critically analyse all points of logic and evidence used, and we can easily fall into a trap of not doing so. However, despite some of his logic being pedantic (Saying outrage should be more focused on the breaking of international law in the invading of Iraq, while it seems far more relevant to be campaigning against all suffering, if legal under international law or not), Chomsky uses very reliable sources and most of his logic stands up and is almost unchallengeable, even to the most hawkish pro-war academic.

What makes this book different to other of Chomsky's works is the interviewer probes Chomsky to offer practical solutions that can be aimed for by activist movements, such as universal healthcare, and offers discussion on how he reached his views, which to those who read a lot of Chomsky and similar works, can be of greater importance than the arguments that the book puts forward.

If you've read Chomsky before and are looking for another, which will be quick and easy (the book can be read in just a few hours even at a leisurely pace) read that will enlighten them further, this is a great book to buy. If you are new to Chomsky, you will not be jumping in the deep end with this book, this is more of a casual introduction to a theorist you may love or hate, but if, like myself, you do prefer a more complete revelation of the state of the world with expanded notes, you will prefer Understanding Power.