Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky by Noam Chomsky (PDF)

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The perfect introduction to the wide-ranging thought of “the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet” (The New York Times Book Review)“Chomsky ranks with Marx, Shakespeare and the Bible as one of the ten most quoted sources in the humanities.” —The GuardianNoam Chomsky remains one of our preeminent public intellectuals, a thinker whose works on international politics and the media are read worldwide. In Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky’s talks on the politics of power.In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions, all published here for the first time, Chomsky radically interprets the events of the late twentieth century, covering topics from foreign policy during Vietnam to the attacks on welfare under the Clinton administration. And as he elucidates the connection between America’s imperialistic foreign policy and the decline of domestic standards of living, Chomsky also establishes a theory of social change. Featuring his classic criticisms of media in capitalist society, as well as U.S. foreign and domestic policy, Understanding Power offers a sweeping critique of the world around us and is the definitive Chomsky.Characterized by Chomsky’s accessible and informative style, this is the ideal book for those new to his work as well as for those who have been reading for years. Click here to download a PDF of the explanatory footnotes compiled by the editors.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐10 stars for one of the most life-changing, perspective altering books I’ve read. I will work through it at least once more to take detailed notes. With eloquence and encyclopedic knowledge of the social, economic, and political system in America and abroad, Chomsky pulls back the curtain on the machinations of power in all its forms to reveal at its core a horrid creed of greed for a few at the expense of health, dignity, and life for the many.”The ‘masters of mankind,’ as [Adam Smith] called them, will do what they can to in order to follow the ‘vile maxim’: ‘all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else.'” The entire book is really an expurgation of this thesis. Of course, this is nothing new in history, but as we see in the book, the interconnectedness of the world and the unprecedented levels of inequity and abuse are ripping civilization apart.Every year, an American president presents a rosy State of the Nation address. With well-documented facts, Chomsky paints a starkly different picture: society is crashing, and, in the 11th hour, it’s up to the people to wake up and take collective action before it’s too late.

⭐”Well, Foont, Canada…” That’s the way many of his talks or in this case his responses begin. “Well,” or “So in my view,” or “Look,” or even “This point has been understood forever, actually.” In other words, the famous M.I.T. professor, the scientist, teacher, social historian and philosopher, reveals himself as an accessible human being who — despite being one of the world’s celebrated linguists — speaks in simple, ordinary language. Anybody can understand him. He is not one of the speaking heads, the pundits, and neither does he direct himself to them: he is — like Diogenese the cynic, or Socratese — a street philosopher ready to mix-it-up with passers-by, for the sake of the soul of the City.This book is, as the Amazons say, a compilation of transcripts from his speeches and seminars given around the country over more than a decade. Indeed, sewing the thing together must have been a challenge in and of itself, disregarding the constant hope that the spirit or breath of the speaker might survive and live within the patched-up and improvised body. But, it does, somehow, though two or three times in the first half of POWER I felt myself skidding over what appeared to be ver batim repetitions of phrase as well as whole paragraphs, like rows of upraised sutures at the joints. Distracting, but far from crucial. Anyway, the editors post this notice on the back cover: “FIVE HUNDRED PAGES OF EXPLANATORY FOOTNOTES COMPILED BY THE EDITORS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE BOOK’S WEBSITE, […]” Which means you can check anything he says at any point.Is UNDERSTANDING POWER worth reading? I think so. Is it entertaining? I believe it is. Is it informative? Ohhhh yes! What’s the point? The point is to wake you up, Neo, or Flaky, so that you can brush the scales from your eyes, “Rise and look around you, and you’ll see who you are.” And what you’re part of.But rather than to describe further a book nearly everybody on the site has described adequately and in detail, let me offer you a snippet of Chomsky: A man in the audience calls out, “It seems to me that in Canada, the fact that they have a labor party makes people somewhat more attuned to issues that Americans largely miss, like worker’s issues for example.” Chomsky responds, “That’s right — Canada’s an interesting case. It’s a pretty similar society to us, except different somehow. It’s much more humane. It has the same corporate rule, the same capitalist institutions, all of that’s the same — but its just a much more humane place. They have a kind of social contract that we don’t have, like they have this national health-care system which makes us look bad because its so efficient. And that IS related to their having a labor-based party, I think. The New Democratic Party in Canada (N.D.P.) isn’t really a labor party, but its kind of labor-based. However, that party’s ability to enter the political system in Canada wasn’t a result of having proportioal representation, it was due to the same thing that would be necessary to get any kind of change like proportional representation in the first lace: a lot of serious popular organizing.”You don’t have to be any kind of scientist. Anybody can understand what he’s talking about. His range of subject matter is wider than the questions and responses he’s offered. Animal Rights? On page 357 it seemed for an instant he’d channeled The Buddah. And (Fall down!) he did, namelessly, in spirit. Newt Gingrich? “Newt Gingrich and the rest of those people may talk about supporting ‘family values,’ but they actually want families destroyed — because families are not rational from the point of view of profit-making.” P. 363. Welfare for the Rich as opposed to Welfare for the Poor, and what George Herbert Walker Bush called “The New World Order.” He says, “What’s been happenign in the contemporary period is really somethign quite new in history, actually. I mean, in recent years a completely new form of government is being pioneered, one designed to serve the deveoping needs of this new international corprate ruling class — it’s what has sometimes been called an emerging ‘de facto world government.’ P. 381. And at about that point, near tne end, he brings us up to speed on the financial collapse we’ve only just narrowly squeaked by, and sketches its inevitable reprocussions, as we sit, terrified to find ourselves robbed of all our cash and awaiting the next move(s) of those few, invisible rich individuals who having stolen our money (Goldlman Sachs) will now rule our lives in fact.Unbelievable!

⭐Great introduction to Noam Chomsky’s work. This book covers the breath of Noam’s topics over the years, giving you a summary of each topic that he has written about over his lifetime. If you have been curious about his writings but are not wanting to dive into one topic in particular, this is the book for you. You can always go back and buy his expanded work on a specific area later.

⭐…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.

⭐This book is excellent and details all sorts of information on events that don’t really make the main stream news and are hidden from most people. He has diligently read from vast numbers of sources, including government papers released to the public. It is frightening though when you read about how little governments care about people and are only interested in their own power and wealth. Not that this is a surprise but nevertheless it is still a bit astonishing.

⭐I would describe this book as a real eye opener for myself. One question which immediately arises is – why do I not know about this stuff. I feel like I have had the wool pulled over my eyes; and, of course, this is probably one of the reasons that Chomsky does what he does. He acts as a medium to channel the `undesirable` information to the people. Actually this is not secret classified information, but rather just stuff which the system tends not to publish, for whatever reason. I have also been watching Chomsky videos and he delivers incredibly lucid and fluent talks on all kinds of matters and I have discovered other books I would like to read, like `Pedagogy of the oppressed` by Paolo Freire. `Understanding Power` has changed my world view considerably. It may not be for the faint hearted as it may easily shatter any illusions that we may be living under.Something that for me is particularly compelling is the way in which this book seems to connect so much of the fragmented impressions and conceptions in my own mind. It really makes you question the influences, for example the media, which have reached you and the way in which they may have worked to indoctrinate and control you. This is really hugely important! Again,why have I not come across this kind of information before? Yes indeed, why is itself an interesting question. This has to be a must read for everyone!

⭐Transcripts from a series of seminars to 1999, this is a wide ranging and authoritative consideration of how, where, and why power is exercised in Western democracy. Interesting to read in the context of what has happened since.

⭐Chomsky at his best. A vast collection of transcripts, meticulously linked and referenced. David Martin’s review says it all but there are perhaps a couple of extra points worth making. The references to the book are on the web and are vast. Had they been included in full within the book, it would have looked like the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This is a book that should be treated as a reference rather than read from cover to cover (although there’s nothing to stop you doing that). It has a comprehensive index and covers just about all the topics you would expect from this “indispensable” political activist and clear thinker.

⭐A great introduction to Chomsky. This was my first book by one of the great minds of our time, I’ve probably own at least a dozen now…

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