Product Description

Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the pre-eminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sell-out lectures. Now, in "Understanding Power", Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's talks on the past, present and future of the politics of power. In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions - published here for the first time - Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign policy during the Vietnam War to the decline of welfare under the Clinton administration. And as he elucidates the connection between America's imperialistic foreign policy and social inequalities at home, Chomsky also discerns the necessary steps to take toward social change. With an eye to political activism and the media's role in popular struggle, as well as US foreign and domestic policy, "Understanding Power" is definitive Chomsky.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20207 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Synopsis
Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the pre-eminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sell-out lectures. Now, in "Understanding Power", Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's talks on the past, present and future of the politics of power. In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions - published here for the first time - Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign policy during the Vietnam War to the decline of welfare under the Clinton administration. And as he elucidates the connection between America's imperialistic foreign policy and social inequalities at home, Chomsky also discerns the necessary steps to take toward social change. With an eye to political activism and the media's role in popular struggle, as well as US foreign and domestic policy, "Understanding Power" is definitive Chomsky.

About the Author
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, Boston. A member of the Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel are public defenders in New York City

Customer Reviews

Fascinating discussion points but no alternatives offered...
Like the other reviewers here I believe Noam Chomsky is sincere in his hope for a fairer world, more transparency in power and corporations etc., which you have to admire and agree with. However despite all the wide-eyed praise, here and elsewhere, his arguments are full of holes, his world view is that of a swivel-eyed conspiracy theorist (basically white people who want to make a profit or promote the rule of law against tyranny have caused every single problem the world has ever faced) and he has absolutely no workable alternatives to the things he criticises in such black and white terms.

After pages of condemnation of political, social and financial institutions and processes that (like them or not) have cost lives, years and human ingenuity beyond measure to establish, his alternative is what, exactly? Some form of anarchism whereby local syndicates would control all production and means of exchange, like thousands of kibbutzim, constantly arguing over whether and how to co-operate or trade. That's right, all the problems of the world will be sorted out if we divide up even further into tribes. So what, exactly, will protect the weak from the strong in this nut-scape? How will anything more complicated than a hut be built? Who will rule? He even admits that his own experiences of the kibbutz system were awful - basically military / racial indoctrination camps in the Israeli desert, full of the worst kind of groupthink and mind-games over food, water etc.

Aside from that, vast chunks of his 'evidence' is garnered from the same second hand sources that he condems as unreliable and biased. So he has just picked the unreliable bits that fit his own bias. And his whole shtick about the media being a self-reinforcing and self-censoring oligarchy may seem real in the US, but in the UK at least it's utter rubbish. Anyone with the slightest axe to grind or conspiracy theory is given ample air and print time, and Chomsky's own books sell by the thousand!

He scores hits around the US state subsidising agriculture and industry while calling for free trade - but hold on, he is himself massively subsidised by state support for universities, which account for most of his income in salary, book sales and talks. So does he want more state intervention in national and international economics, or less? Where should those tax dollars go and who should decide? He doesn't bother saying.

Sure, governments are hypocritical, but that's hardly a new insight, and any tool can sit around their academic ivory tower spongeing off state sinecure and whinging that everyone else is at fault for the wrongs of the world, but if you're so clever Noam spell out what the alternative is and how we'll get there before advocating tearing down what we already have.

A great introduction to his ideas
For those seeking an insight into Chomsky's take on an array of subjects including political activism, the mass media, the Cuban missile crisis, the Cold War and Soviet `containment', anarchism, Marxism and post-modernism this is an indispensable guide. Written in a conversational manner, as the text is taken from various talks he has given, it is an interesting and accessible guide to a set of views which often challenge established orthodoxies.

Whilst I feel Chomsky's views on social theory, post-modernism, Marxism and anarchism lack intellectual rigour and disagree with views he has expressed over Kosovo, `imperialism' and other reductive and simplistic analysis he has produced, this is nonetheless a great starting point for seeking alternative frameworks of understanding to much of the mainstream discussion on the use of American and elite power in the contemporary world. Chomsky is far from the last word and there is no doubting there are flaws within his anarchist world-view but some of the questions he poses and issues he draws attention to are especially salient today. Read the book and decide for yourself!

captivating
My first Chomsky and I found it captivating and revealing. A very approachable and readable book indeed.

Compiled from a varierty of talks Chomsky has given in recent years in the US, this book provides exceedingly persuasive argument that capitalist models have chronically failed society thus far.

Chomsksy logically explains why this is the case - with substantial citation and statistics - and why we could be forgiven for not seeing it for ourselves.

Very interesting. Read it.