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Summary: A must for a anyone interested in what is really going on.
Review: Politics 101. A must if you are ever going to make heads and tails of things.
Not many really like what Chomsky has to say, but what is even more irratating is that he has proof and evidence to every signe word he has said and written (see footnotes); makes it impossible to argue with this man.
Read it and try.
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Summary: Be HEARD, not a HERD
Review: Those who profit by mainstream America's collective, ignorance, fear & greed are rarely gratified by Mr. Chomsky's literate, articulate statements of fact that reveal essential wrongdoing by our government & the powerful elite it serves.In reality The United States current imperialist policies are not sustainable. Those who think that somehow they will be spared if they make enough money or kiss enough ass are deluding themselves. The greatest achievement of the Bush Cartel is their ability to dupe working class Americans into thinking that they represent their long term concerns & values. Economic theory is utter fallacy. Smith never considered the long term spill over costs of environmental degradation & the over exploitation of limited natural resources. Communism failed, it doesn't mean that unchecked, reckless capitalism will work. Wake up America. . .
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Summary: Understanding Chomsky
Review: Coming in touch with Chomsky's ideas has had a profound affect on my life, and I'm sure, the lives of many others. However, his books are often so dense and challenging that the prospect of picking them up can get a bit daunting. This particular book though is a carefully edited compendium of transcripts from his public speaking engagements, and as such has a conversational tone that makes it eminently more "digestible" than many of his other books. I cannot rate it highly enough! Understanding Power is a revelation, an inspiration and, believe it or not, hard to put down.
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Summary: Aptly titled
Review: While much of this book is fairly prosaic by Chomsky's standards (i.e. indictments against US terrorism, corporate avarice, etc.), in my opinion these polemics actually belie the most provocative aspect this particular book has to offer on Chomsky's philosophy. In his ideas on anarchist theory, his tips for activists, his prognosis for our society's future - here we see an unexpected side of the most visible contemporary American radical: Chomsky the pragmatist, the moderate, the rationalist (in the vein of Voltaire and Russell)...he even delivers a pretty severe critique of the North American and European Marxist intelligentsia.
A trenchant and wide-ranging exploration of a leading intellectual's thoughts on issues as diverse as sports, abortion and the internet. The footnotes too are indispensable, they can be found online (for free) and include thorough documentation and extended citation. Any readers who don't believe him can check out his sources and decide for themselves.
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Summary: this book literally changed my life
Review: noam came to my school a few months after 9/11. his lecture was prophetic, linking the attacks to inevitable invasions of afghanistan and iraq. i read this book as an introduction into progressive thought. warning, dont take anything in this book at face value. the book has extensive footnotes, so try to validate everything for yourself. this book was truly remarkable for me, and holds a special place in my heart.
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Summary: Read this book
Review: If you don't know about Chomsky and are looking for a place to start, this is the book you want. It's accessbile, and meticulously documented. The footnotes in and of themselves are quite an achievement. When you're done with it, test out his theses in your daily interaction with the media-it can be astonishing how much sense the man actually makes.
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Summary: Excellent observer...
Review: ...and very fine explainer, that is Noam Chomsky. I do not understand why anyone would label this book "controversial". He does nothing but state facts (often government-documented facts) and express opinions. When he doesn't know, he says so. This kind of behavior is controversial? If so, then heaven help us. But it IS controversial, because many of my fellow citizens have been persuaded to stop seeing, and stop thinking. When that is the case, even the most well-documented, thoroughly proven facts become controversial. Very sad. The (well-proven) export of terrorism by the U.S.
The (palpably obvious) lack of real distinction between Republicans and Democrats.
The (thoroughly documented) U.S. suppression of independence movements world-wide.
The (again, well-supported) derailing of the Mideast peace process by the U.S. and Israel.
Etc, etc, it is all here. There are a couple of weak areas: Chomsky's espousal of anarchism (perhaps I just "don't get it") and his failure to understand that there were, in fact, very plausible reasons for assassinating Kennedy (Chomsky understands why King was offed, but doesn't get Kennedy, who, in my opinion, was obviously killed to support Johnson's life-long ambition to be President). All is all, an excellent book which confirms and greatly extends many of the conclusions I have come to over the years. Part of the reason I have chosen to live outside the U.S., I suppose. Buy and enjoy.
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Summary: Finally a unique perspective...and yet...
Review: OK folks, I believe that what Chomsky has to say is immensely important. That being said, I also believe he is too quick to dismiss many decent things in American society. Sometimes I wonder if he recognizes how vast his power of influence is. In all honsety, I have never quite decided one way or another how much I agree with Chomsky. Whatever your thoughts, he is a fascinating personality. I've lived through enough seasons to know that those with power and property have no more or less knowledge than the rest of us. The essential importance of Chomsky is that he expands the range of political debate in this country. The million-dollar question is how alternative philosophies such as Nader's and Chomsky's can be effectively applied to our current political arena. Frankly, I feel that Libertarian ideas hold some of the answers, PROVIDED that a public structure remains to CHECK corporate power, NOT subsidize it. Western Civilization is long overdue for a new Enlightenment. Hope this was helpful. "Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions."
-Primo Levi
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Summary: Changed my perspective on the world
Review: Every once in a while I find a book that alters my view of life and the world, a book that blows my mind. UNDERSTANDING POWER is that book this year. It is profoundly frightening and profoundly liberating. It is frightening because it taught me that just about everything I had been taught about my country and the world, everything I had taken for granted to be true, is in fact a lie. It is liberating because it corrects the lies and taught me the truth. UNDERSTADING POWER is far too comprehensive for me to list all the amazing things Chomsky says that have changed my perspective on life (the chapter notes are so extensive that they are not included in the book but stored on a website [put ".com" behind the book's title]), but here is a brief summary of some of the most important points: 1. Noam Chomsky explains that there is no such thing as a free economy. The US has always had extensive state intervention in the economy. (Chomsky reveals that the US became powerful because of taxtiles, which are made of cotton [Chomsky says cotton was in that day what oil is today]. The reason cotton was so profitable is because the indigenous population had been obliterated and slaves had been brought in from Africa. "Imagine a more severe market distortion than that," Chomsky says.) 2. Before the industrial revolution, capital was land. Land is immobile and workers were mobile; workers could move from country to country more freely than they can today. Now, due to technological advances, capital (the companies) is mobile and due to tighter immigration laws the workers are immobile. What this creates is a situation where corporations can easily move their headquarters overseas, pit one national workforce against another, and drive everyone's standard of living down. 3. Another example of extensive state intervention in the economy, Chomsky says, is that the US government worked early in the 20th Century to destroy the transportation system, build highways, and create suburbia, thus ensure a viable market for oil (Chomsky notes that only because of great international violence does the price of oil remain within the price range the US wants it to). The result is the pollution we see and devastation of the inner cities. 4. Spectator sports are a great way to build up support for chauvinism and totalitarianism. Chomsky says that sports are supported by the ruling class as a way of conditioning the working and middle classes to form irrational loyalties to corporations and to glorify violence. Politics and culture, Chomsky says, are in the hands of the rich. So all the rest of us have is something like sports or sitcoms. (Chomsky says that the emphasis put on sports reminds him of what goes on in illiterate cultures where people form incredibly intricate kinship systems and creative language use. The author says that this shows that people want to use their minds but often do not have supportive outlets in which to do so.) 5. Chomsky says that if there is one thing power understands it is violence. To that end, he reveals how the most powerful country on earth (yes, that's us; the United States of America) has either directly (via many of our - usually illegal - foreign wars), or indirectly (via our political interference, such as the coup in Chile on September 11, 1972 that brought Pinochet to power) caused the deaths of millions. 6. The United States defies the international trend that as industrialization takes place, religious affiliation declines. In the United States the opposite happens. Religious affiliation in the United States has increased as industrializiation has taken place. Chomsky claims that the United States is one of the most fundamentalist countries in the world, and in this regard we have more in common with the impoverished third world nations and are at the same level as them in terms of religious fundamentalism. Chomsky makes two interesting points on this: A) This trend toward religious affiliation in the United States most likely is a result of the hopelessness the citizens feel because, contrary to the other industralized nations, we in the United States do not have a powerful labor party. This means that the benefits of industrialization fall largely in the hands of the corporate owners, and only futher marginalize the US population. The US population therefore becomes hopeless and feels powerless. When people feel hopeless and powerless they often turn to religion for comfort. B) Chomsky says that the level of religious affiliation and fundamentalism in the United States is frightening because in times of crisis - such as war or political unrest - religious fundamentalism can very easily convert itself into fascism. UNDERSTANDING POWER is all in question/answer format, which makes some otherwise complicated issues seem rather approachable. I highly recommend UNDERSTANDING POWER for anyone interested in looking at the world in a different way and knowing the truth behind what has gone on in this world for the last century. Unlike most news media and politicians whose answers point in many different directions and may even contradict themselves year by year (our enemy this year was our friend last year, etc.), Chomsky is completely consistent. He reveals what has been common knowledge for millennia, and yet the elite have denied for just as long: that powerful people will do anything to hold on to power.
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Summary: Brilliant, as usual, and a good place to start
Review: Noam Chomsky is our most sophisticated political thinker today, with cogent thoughts on everything from foreign policy, terrorism, history, thought control, propaganda and domestic issues. In this book, we get a summary of Chomsky's views. Although several Chomsky interview books have been issued over the past 10 years, this is probably the best one since it is much longer and covers a wider assortment of issues. Also, the questioners are not necessarily professional journalists and interviewers but people who attended the annual political orientation seminars organized by the people at South End Press and Z Magazine, so the questions sometimes delve into, for example, whether Chomsky votes and whether he is a vegitarian. But most of the questions deal with substantive matters and the answers are lenghty and lucid. It may be that Chomsky edited the answers for clarity because his answers read like well-written essays. Chomsky makes a whole lotta sense on all of these issues, and he explains his vision for a sustainable future, which frankly requires a radical restructuring of society. However, he is optimistic that this can happen because even Third World peasants can organize aggressive labor unions and stand up to oppressive leaders, so why can't Americans, who enjoy unprecedented freedoms at home? But beware, because Chomsky's grasp of history and his familiarity with American foreign and domestic policy is enough to discourage anyone from believing that fundamental change is possible. But, as Chomsky points out, we have not choice but to seek this fundamental change as the fate of civilization depends on such change. This book has hundreds of footnotes, but they are not at the end of the book but on-line and available in PDF format without charge. Chomsky's footnotes always make for good reading as they, too, are long and thorough and cite other resources. A good idea would be to print out the footnotes from the website and put them in a loose-leaf notebook. For people out there who want to get a sense of where Chomsky is at, this book is a good starting point because it covers nearly all of his usual subjects and is readable. Even experienced Chomsky readers will get something out of this book, though.
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