On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures by Noam Chomsky (PDF)

Description

One of Noam Chomsky’s most accessible books, On Power and Ideology is a product of his 1986 visit to Managua, Nicaragua, for a lecture series at Unversidad Centroamericana. Delivered at the height of U.S. involvement in the Nicaraguan civil war, this succinct series of lectures lays out the parameters of Noam Chomsky’s foreign policy analysis.The book consists of five lectures on U.S. international and security policy. The first two lectures examine the persistent and largely homogenous features of U.S. foreign policy, and overall framework of order. The third discusses Central America and its foreign policy pattern. The fourth looks at U.S. national security and the arms race. And the fifth examines U.S. domestic policy.These five talks, conveyed directly to the people bearing the brunt of devastating U.S. foreign policy, make historic and exciting reading.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “A rigorous exposition of the logic of U.S. foreign policy.”—The Nation”Highly persuasive writing.”—H-Net”A rigorous exposition of the logic of U.S. foreign policy.” ―The Nation”Highly persuasive writing.” ―H-Net About the Author Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include At War with Asia, Towards a New Cold War, Fateful Triangle: The U. S., Israel and the Palestinians, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

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

⭐Written several decades ago nothing explained here really aged. Easy to read and understand. It would be interesting to add a contemporary chapter here on democratic socialism. It is a little depressing to think there seems to be more popular interest in mid 1980s as to US involvement in aiding and supporting dictators than in 2019.

⭐The book is compiled from a series of lectures given in Managua, Nicaragua. In his remarks, the author moves easily and almost flawlessly from one bloc of political facts to another, from one time period to another, with real independence of mind. The overriding theme here – and never far away in Chomsky’s topical works – is American ideology, its reality and debunking. In this case, the focus is on the bloody recent history of Central America and Washington’s role in it. The amazing point with such efforts is how close to the surface truth actually lies and how easily official myths can be exposed. Yet – also – how habitual it is for our intelligentsia to ignore these political unpleasantries, such as CIA sponsored slaughter in Central America.Thus “On Power and Ideology” need not exercise complex reasoning nor obscure research to validate its main point; Chomsky needs only to cite historical records to make his case. Though he never states this thesis explcitly, his case studies such as Latin America, revolve around it. That main point being: that behind all Washington’s official praise for human rights lies one non-democratic “right” that determines all the rest and guides our policy makers, namely the “right” of American investment to go where it wants and do what it wants. (Considering the devastating effect NAFTA, the WTO, and other trade agreements have had on working America and the environment, this is a revealing point to make.) Other rights can be seen as secondary and of instrumental value only to this one overriding imperial drive. This is not a book for the faint-hearted. Be prepared to learn about our hidden history.

⭐One can see in Chomsky’s insights on the development of Reaganism parallels to the rise of Trump – both seen as political outsiders, both proposing scary ideas & both coming across as populists who care about “real workers.” Another great point in the book was observing how other pols & media labeled Nixon as corrupt due to Watergate, but not regarding similar break-ins engineered by his Administration under COINTELLPRO. In this way, the problem was shifted to one of Nixon’s failure, avoiding any systemic criticisms. Similarly, Nixon was faulted not so much for the mass killings in Vietnam & Laos, but more for not briefing Congress.

⭐This book is a composition of five lectures that took place at the Univeridad Centroamericana located in Central American country of Managua. Originally published sometime during the late eighties, is an essential asset towards understanding the history of the U.S. and why it had the dominant position in the “previous world order”.The author Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at the prestigious MIT. He is one of the best known critics of U.S. foreign policy. What makes this book so enlightening is his research material, which includes declassified internal White House documents. With this, he has provided the world with a shocking revelation of reasons as to why so many (seemingly troublesome and anarchic) historical events occurred, and also, why these things are still so today.This book will enlighten you on the inherently duplicitous nature of our government’s practice of power. What may be hard to swallow for most are the mechanisms (which are nothing more than our conventional institutions) by which Americans are manipulated. Not to mention the practice of the redefinition of words and terms such as “communism” and “defense of democracy” that are designed to push our patriotic buttons, thus enabling our government to carryout overt actions that have dark covert intentions.This book is a MUST read

⭐This review and it’s rating has nothing to do with Noam Chomsky or his book, but the poor quality of Pluto Press’ publication. It is littered with typos and completely misspelled words throughout. Really disappointing.

⭐Noam Chomsky, dans ces conférences données à Managua au cœur de l’opposition à l’ingérence américaine sur l’Amérique centrale, nous donne un solide et dense survol de la politique étrangère américaine. Il part du modèle global d’hégémonie que les américains ont établi suite à leur victoire en 1945 pour ensuite en décrire les conséquences et les mécanismes en Amérique latine et en Amérique centrale, et pour aboutir en fin aux enjeux que ce modèle fait émerger aux USA Un concentré de dissidence toujours d’actualité.

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