Product Description

For the past forty years, Noam Chomsky's writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual and as one of the most original and wide-ranging political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, since the 1960s Chomsky has also secured a place as perhaps the leading dissident voice in the United States. Chomsky's many bestselling works - including "Manufacturing Consent", "Hegemony or Survival", "Understanding Power", and "Failed States" - have served as essential touchstones for dissidents, activists, scholars, and concerned citizens on subjects ranging from the media to human rights to intellectual freedom.In particular, Chomsky's scathing critiques of the U.S. wars in Vietnam, Central America, and the Middle East have furnished a widely accepted intellectual inspiration for antiwar movements over nearly four decades. "The Essential Chomsky" assembles the core of his most important writings, including excerpts from his most influential texts over the past forty years. Here is an unprecedented, comprehensive overview of Chomsky's thought.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3560 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

About the Author
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT and the author of numerous seminal books, including Manufacturing Consent, Deterring Democracy and Hegemony or Survival. He was voted the world's leading public intellectual in the 2005 Prospect/Foreign Policy poll. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Some Choice Chomsky
"The Essential Chomsky" is not the first anthology of Chomskys writings, but certainly is an excellent selection from his 40 odd years of writing primarily on American Foreign Policy. Included are his seminal early essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" which is a crucial piece of writing in which Chomsky essentially lays out the rational for his own political writings as well as implicitly chastising those who enjoy a privileged life in Academia and either turn their backs on the world, or worse still become "servants of power". The essay is still pertinent though no doubt Academia is not as privileged, especially outside those sectors which are well funded and commercially orientated, as it was when the essay was written in the late 1960's.

The essays cover a variety of subjects including The War in Vietnam, Watergate, East Timor, The Middle East and the attacks of 9/11 in a cogent manner. One minor gripe I had regarding the book is the number of essays (about 15% of the books total size) that are rooted in his academic area of expertise which is Linguistics. I dont think there is a good case for mixing the two together, the number of people who are able to deal with the complexities of research level Linguistics must be fairly minimal. Personally I found myself lost more than once and only able to extricate myself by skipping to the next essay. Having said that a couple of them were interesting and comprehensible. Perhaps it would have been better to have two collections, one for Politics and another for Linguistics.

That aside, I would thoroughly recommend this for anyone who is interested in the politics of the Modern World in general, and the particular role of the United States plays at the global level. The writing is sharp, principled and spiced with Chomskys underrated but tart sense of humour. Excellent stuff.

The Essental Chomsky
The Essential Chomsky does what it states in the title. For people interested in the history of politics and the decision making process this is essetial reading. It is magnificient in it's scope and captures the thoughts of the day as they were occurring with some hindsight. For a real understanding of the conflict around the world as it exists now you couldn't have a guide that is so well informed and objective. This is yet another essential read from a great writer.

Chomsky for the new or old reader
Chomsky extracts well chosen , giving a broad overview of his excellent writing, from familar politics and linguistics and enough long passages to give depth too.