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Summary: Take it for what it is...
Review: A set of interviews with Chomsky post 9-11. Its typical Chomsky... no better or worse than anything else with his name. As a result of the choppy structure, its a bit frustrating. The repetition of the questions (and subsequent answers) gives me a better appreciation for Chomsky's frequently insulting demeanor towards interviewers. A a result of its structure and relative short size, this book makes a good bathroom reader.
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Summary: The Oracle
Review: I have recently discovered Chomsky, and after reading this book (just finished Deterring Democracy, also recommended) he continues to impress me. I picked this book up a few weeks ago, and am watching as one by one his predictions as to what the administration would get up to comes true. It is about contemporary issues, but Chomsky's background knowledge shines through - he really does know his stuff and is therefore able to extrapolate more accurately things that are likely to happen as a result of the most thundering wake up call the American people have ever had. Lets hope the slumbering giant truly wakes up this time.
Rating: 
Summary: Awful
Review: Chomsky is an intellectual leader of the anti-war left. In Chomsky's view, the World Trade Center deaths were regrettable but the unprecedented humiliation of the imperialist power - America - was an historic victory for social justice and human progress. He attributes the bad deeds of America's enemies to America itself - hence the search for "root causes" every time America is attacked. Irrational, Marxist nonsense.
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Summary: Chomsky - A real American Hero
Review: It's nice to know that our country can still produce thinkers. A Green Party Noam Chomsky-Michael Moore presidential bid is in order.
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Summary: Chomsky thinks everything is a conspiracy!
Review: What a waste of time, money, and energy I expended in reading this book. I picked it up originally a year or so ago, read it then, hated it, and put it away. I picked it up this week and read it again, wondering if I would find insight that I could not get the first time through. All I came to understand is that Noam Chomsky loves to label everything a conspiracy, and he loves to purport that American capitalism is to blame for the 9/11 attacks. I guess we incited the fundamentalist terrorists to be so offended by our globalization that they had no alternative but to fly airplanes into our buildings. So, according to Chomsky's reasoning, if some neighbors move in down the street and I happen not to like their religion or their occupation or their way of dress or the color of their cat, then I can always bomb them and blame the bombing on the "offense" they caused me? Give it up, Chomsky! America is not to blame for every ill that we experience. Have you not heard of people hating us for our ideologies -- i.e. we are the "infidels" -- and *THAT* is why they attack us!?! Have you not learned that there are true evils in the world, and it is not always an American conspiracy?
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Summary: One more book cashing on on 9/11
Review: This paste-up job is about as shameless an attempt to profit from 9/11 as I've seen yet. There's nothing new here; just more of Chomsky's circuitous logic and inventions. For nearly thirty years Chomsky and his followers promised us a complete theory of grammar and deep structure, a promise they've never delivered on, and not surprisingly, as the deep structure argument is specious at best. It's based on a series of false assumptions about human learning and development that are way out of line with the real findings of neuroscience. Finding himself at the head of a bankrupt scientific tradition, Chomsky decided instead to concentrate on his political philosophies, which, he told us in the 1960, were a direct consequence of those facts he had "proved" about the human cognitive system. Of course, when you start with a false system you can draw all sorts of conclusions from it. His main thesis is that the US brought 9-11 on itself owing to how we conduct ourselves in the world. France, who regularly sends troops into Africa without UN approval, is apparantly immune from this charge. So is Vietnam, once Chomsky's darlings, who invaded Cambodia without provocation. Ditto China and its invasion of Tibet. And so the list goes on. Chomsky's world is full of circuitous argument, undocumented assertion and backwards reasoning from conclusions. It's not surprising that his main followers tend to be college students, a group that tends to illustrate the wisdom of the observation that a little learning is a dangerous thing.
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Summary: An idealist, he wants to change the world for the better
Review: Noam Chomsky has spent a lifetime sharply criticizing U.S. Foreign policy. And he's still going strong. In the first few weeks after 9-11, he was interviewed a lot about the event. This small book consists of transcripts of these interviews and was rushed into print while the smoke was still settling over that big hole in the ground where the World Trade Center used to be. There's nothing essentially new in these musings. Chomsky believes that American imperialist interests are responsible for most of the ills of the world. He feels that 9-11 was the result of a volcano of unrest that was just waiting to erupt. There's a bit of "I told you so" in his analysis, and an attempt to weave it all together - Nicaragua, Vietnam, and the history of the world. Some of it is understandable and I find myself nodding in agreement as he discusses the wars and turmoil that has always existed. According to him, the only difference in what has been going on forever is that, for the first time, the victims are different. And because the victims are American, he feels he can blame the victims. Well, not really the "victims"; it's the American government he targets. He also warns against bombing Afghanistan. He sees it as just playing into the perpetrators' hands because this will even give more fuel to the fire, make them hate us more and leave us open to more and more attacks. His warnings and pronouncements seem gloomy indeed. But are we supposed to do nothing? I live in downtown New York. I saw firsthand the horror of 9-11. I smelled the burning fires for weeks. And I've finally stopped looking for those tall twin towers, which used to be part of the landscape I saw every day. I remember the photos of the victims posted on billboards and lampposts and the faces of despair on us all. All those victims did was go to work one Tuesday morning. They were just living their lives, not part of an international conspiracy - office workers and waiters, shopkeepers and fire fighters. A lot of people died that day. It was awful. It is my understanding that every action has a reaction, a rippling effect that causes further reactions. War and conquest has been going on even before the discovery of fire. We're awfully naïve if we think that's going to change. And yet, I applaud the idealist in Professor Chomsky. He wants to change the world for the better. That's what keeps him going. And the book "9-11" is the latest of his efforts. Do read it. It's small and easy to follow. It's a frightening perspective for the future. And yet, there's an underlying message of hope. Recommended.
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Summary: A must-read
Review: A year and a half after 9/11/01, this book is nearly in the top 500 of best-selling books on Amazon. Defying all logic in the ultra-conservative wake of 9/11, this book became an international bestseller. Why? Because people needed an independent analysis that they could trust. People needed to hear Noam Chomsky's point of view. I believe that is why this book was "rushed into print" after 9/11 (not to "cash in" as critics would have you believe... The Patriot Act is an example of cashing in on 9/11, this book is not). Someone decided it would be a good idea to edit his post-9/11 interviews into a book to get his point of view out to the public, and he agreed to it. Yes, this is a collection of interviews, similar to the format of the best-selling "Chomsky Trilogy." His interviews are often much easier to read than his writing; it is easier to follow his informal speech than his academic prose. As such, this is a readable introduction to the ideas of Noam Chomsky. Love him or hate him, he should not be ignored. It's been over a year since I read this, and what sticks out in my mind is his analysis of Clinton's bombing of the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory in 1998, under the apparently mistaken impression that it was a terrorist training facility or something of that nature. Chomsky points out roughly half a dozen various effects of that bombing, leading to the deaths of innocent civilians, instability in the region, decreased likelihood of democratic government, resentment towards the US and refusal to cooperate with the US in hunting for Al Qaeda. Chomsky's analysis makes it clear that this bombing was a greater tragedy than 9/11, in terms of over-all lives lost. Republican Clinton-haters should love this section of the book. Chomsky has been criticized for being "wooden" in these interviews and not sympathetic enough to the victims of 9/11. In his defense, he has studied mass atrocities for the past 35 years -- many of which the US was responsible for -- many of which involved the death and torture of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Take East Timor as an example. The East Timor atrocities did not have the support of 24/7 media coverage like 9/11 did. Chomsky is an internationalist. In his eyes, a Timorese life is equal to the life of a New Yorker. Chomsky was no doubt saddened by 9/11 -- and he clearly states that it was an unjustifiable atrocity -- but he was 70 times more saddened by the US-supported Indonesian invasion of East Timor, because 70 times as many people died. (My statistics might be off, but you get the picture.) If he is not adequately expressing his grief, then all of the Americans who were blissfully ignorant of the East Timor atrocity are far more guilty of not expressing proper grief for those lives lost. You do not have to feel more pain merely because it was American lives lost, merely because the television tells you "Now is the time to be sad." If Chomsky truly wanted to "cash in," he would gush about how horrible 9/11 was, just like everyone else in the media. Instead he had the courage to present a cogent and politically incorrect point of view -- for which he is still being rewarded with best-seller status. Check out Chomsky's sequel to 9-11 as well as Rahul Mahajan's "The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism."
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Summary: Should be required reading for all Americans
Review: The vast majority of Americans have no idea that people such as Noam Chomsky even exists. The reason is they cannot imagine his imaginings. To them, the United States is the greatest country in the world bar none, the most caring, the one with the most opportunity, its culture is more diverse and open than any other and it is, above all, eminently practical and can-do. Now those attributes may not be attractive to academia but they are what has sustained us for over 200 years. Chomsky has left a once-promising career and moved into his own fantasy world lock, stock and barrel. In the Universe according to Noam freedom is oppression, slavery is liberty and happiness is stupidity. It never fails to amaze me that the folks who protest our Western culture, its pluralism, freedom, democracy, solutions through ballot and not violence, diversity, would not be allowed to open their trap in a society run according to their dictates. People say "this is not a blame America" book. Of course it is and then again it is a brazen attempt to cash in off that tragic disaster. Although the corporate world is, for Chomsky, the second rung of hell, he doesn't mind accepting a few coins along the way. Amerika is the new imperialist power in case you have forgotten. We practice evil capitalism, plundered markets, poverty and the sheer dumbness of the American people. One could ask, "Why do plain folk risk their lives to come to this country and not try for, say, North Korea or Cuba or one of the many Arab dictatorships?" His "historical" arguments remind me of those creationists who start with a premise then change the facts to match the desired outcome. Chomsky has gotten into a habit of incorporating disparate events and people, then showing a "connection" where none exists. I gave it two stars because of the sheer gall someone had to have to have penned such nonsense. Let's get back to the anti-war rally with our "Keep Iraq Free" sign.
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Summary: Essential Reading Regardless Of Your Political Stance
Review: Chomsky should be required reading for every person willing to be world weary, regardless of political affiliation. This 'political scientist' has more insight into our world's recent (100 years) history than most politicians, which makes reading him sometimes frightening. Although this is a condensed version of larger works, it focuses mainly on post 9/11 and he places a very clear perspective on what, where and why things are happening the way they are - Americans are simply unaware of thier impact on the rest of the world. His viewpoints are short of judgemental and more fact based history. It isn't that the USA looks 'bad', it's that he makes Americans look at themselves in a way they never have. It's sobering and yet relieving. In the long run, one realizes that things are much better now in the world than they were ten, twenty and thirty years ago. Despite the 9/11 atrocities, things are getting better, but Chomsky makes it clear that the USA is just as responsible for world peace as any other world resident. We have a chance to improve our lives and those who share this planet with us.
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