How the World Works (Real Story (Soft Skull Press)) by Noam Chomsky

How the World Works (Real Story (Soft Skull Press)) Reviews

• 
  William

  This book has considerable merit, but also some serious flaws. It is basically interviews with Noam Chomsky, who brings his vast knowledge to comment on subjects like how the U.S. government really works, imperialism, democracy, and economics. But there are no footnotes, so you can't check sources, you just have to take Chomsky's word for everything. It paints a grim picture of the modern
  corporate security state. By stringing together a number of short examples on particular topics, like how the U.S. government has favored dictators over democratic regimes in the world, the book makes some powerful arguments. To someone who does not know anything but the simplified, glorified history of America, it might be shocking. I prefer more structured works where the details paint a more complete picture of some aspect of history/diplomacy.
  
  I would recommend this book so someone who wants an introductory overview of democratic and anti-capitalist critiques of American foreign policy.
• 
  Owlseyes

  
  
  
  
  American by birth. Anti-American by political conviction, I guess. That is Chomsky.
  
  
  
  
  (Thinking Owl)
  
  
  
  
  
  (Sorry, on page 57 I had to stop; to ponder, because Owlseyes has blue eyes)
  But now I'm back on it.
  
  I'm on 60% of the book. I guess that's a kind of Chomsky fixation on the USA bad side. I'd rarely seen/read any good remark on the USA as a nation and its history. In fact, it's a nation getting worse as you proceed through the historical account of Chomsky. Indeed, it seems he cannot stand authority, or hierarchy. Would his solution (anarcho-syndicalism) dissolve state-nations? I wonder.
  
  By the way, he recently showed some sympathy for the 2020 Democrat candidate Tulsi Gabbard. No wonder, as she's on a crusade against the "military industrial complex"...and "interventionist" wars abroad. And yet, she'd been in the military for some years.
  
  It seems Chomsky has some reserves concerning Bernie Sanders.
  
  I'm over with it.
  4 stars for the global outreach of the analysis and the experience of the author.
  
  Nevertheless it's a one-sided vision of the American crimes....and the interplay of forces abroad and inside the USA.
  
  "...I can see how a better world is being created" (Chomsky in Venezuela, in 2009)
  
  A very tangible proof that his vision is/was not totally correct is present-day Venezuela. Chaos.
  
  
  
  (1st of May, 2019)
  
  
  UPDATE
  
  "..the fact that the U.S. has the worst record in responding to the crisis".
  Noam Chomsky
  
  Interesting interview. Chomsky on the coronavirus.
  
  
  https://truthout.org/articles/chomsky...
• 
  Hestia Istiviani

  Ditengah rentetan tuntutan untuk segera menyelesaikan skripsi, rasanya lelah juga hanya berkutat pada buku-buku teks pendukung. Nama Chomsky sebenarnya sudah tidak terlalu asing ditelingaku, namun baru kali ini aku memberanikan diri untuk membacanya.
  
  Gaya Bahasa, Kosa Kata, dan Penyampaian
  Buku ini adalah kumpulan tulisan Chomsky dari 4 buku sebelumnya. Aku, yang sama sekali tidak pernah tahu bagaimana tulisan Chomsky merasa bahwa cara penyampaiannya tidak bisa sembarangan dinikmati orang. Menurutku, seseorang haruslah punya pemahaman mendasar terlebih dahulu tentang perpolitikan dan perekonomian dunia, bukan dari tataran bawah, melainkan mengerti apa yang terjadi di kalangan atas. Ketika pembaca sudah tahu hal-hal tersebut, aku rasa mereka sudah bisa mencerna tulisan Chomsky dengan lebih baik.
  
  Istilah dan kosa kata yang digunakan sebenarnya tidak terlalu sulit. Yang menyebabkan pembaca jadi agak susah mengikuti alurnya ialah materi dan pesan yang ingin disampaikan oleh Chomsky. Aku malah sempat berpendapat bahwa pembaca awam memiliki pilihan untuk berhenti di tengah jalan karena tidak tahan dengan apa yang dibacanya, atau berhasil menyelesaikan membaca namun dalam waktu yang cukup lama. Itu pun kalau mereka bisa menyelesaikan tanpa adanya perasaan untuk menjadi anti terhadap etnis tertentu.
  
  Aku sendiri tidak merasa terlalu kesulitan. Ya karena aku sudah sering mendengar rumor-rumor tentang apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di balik semua kekacauan dan peperangan di dunia ini. Ditambah lagi aku juga suka menonton serial televisi yang menayangkan konspirasi-konspirasi tingkat tinggi. Mungkin pembaca akan merasa buat apa membaca tulisan mengenai analisis yang terlalu kompleks dan rasanya sulit untuk diselesaikan secara sederhana, selama pembaca masih bisa mendapat makan dan hidup layak, membaca karya Chomsky menjadi hal yang sia-sia dan membuang-buang waktu. Tetapi, untuk sekedar membuka pengetahuan, tidak ada salahnya membaca buku ini. Hati-hati terkaget-kaget dengan apa yang dijelaskan Chomsky disana.
  
  Isi Buku
  Seperti yang tertulis pada sinopsisnya, Chomsky menjelaskan mengenai peperangan, kemiskinan, kebodohan, kesehatan, hingga rasisme dengan analisis yang ia miliki (sumbernya ia dapat dari berbagai kalangan, aku sempat menduga dirinya ada hubungannya dengan Julian Assange). Bahwa apa yang terjadi selama ini, yang membuat manusia menjadi merasa terkungkung, ialah karena ulah Amerika Serikat selaku negara (yang mengaku) adidaya. Beragam rasa tidak aman dan takut kehabisan daya yang dirasakan oleh Amerika Serikat membuat kebijakan negara tersebut menjadi berkuasa atas kemerdekaan negara lain. Bahkan, di tulis pula, Amerika Serikat tidak segan-segan untuk menghabisi suatu kelompok tertentu apabila kelompok tersebut memberontak kepadanya. Aku yang membaca buku ini ketika sedang menyelesaikan skripsi bertopik tulisan distopia jadi merasa bahwa sebenarnya apa yang dikatakan oleh The Hunger Games ternyata sungguh terjadi.
  
  Chomsky juga menuliskan bahwa selama ini dunia bekerja untuk mereka yang hanya punya duit saja. Kapitalisme yang semakin hebat efeknya mendorong mereka untuk terus "merebut" sesuatu dari orang-orang biasa. Sistem yang terjadi di dalam masyarakat global saat ini adalah pemiskinan, pembodohan, dan peperangan yang sudah merupakan startegi untuk mendapatkan hasil sumber daya alam lebih besar lagi. Chomsky tidak menutup-nutupi bahwa pemerintah Amerika Serikat (diwakili oleh presiden yang menjabat saat itu) selalu mengusahakan dirinya ikut campur dengan proses pemilu di negara yang bagi mereka adalah sumber uangnya (termasuk Indonesia).
  
  Gara-gara membaca buku ini, aku juga baru tahu kalau Chomsky adalah orang yang sering mengutip pendapat Orwell (walau ia sendiri menolak diberi label sebagai Orwellian). Chomsky meletakkan karya satir Orwell, Animal Farm, ke dalam konteks yang lebih nyata, yakni kehidupan saat ini. Menjadikan bahwa apa yang telah ditulis Orwell bukanlah hanya sekedar sindirian, melainkan seakan menjadi suatu manual kerja untuk para penguasa ekonomi dunia dalam menaklukan warganya.
  
  ---
  
  Buku ini cukup menarik hanya untuk kalangan tertentu yang mau merelakan waktunya membaca apa yang bertolak belakang dari yang selama ini dipublikasikan oleh media. Aku rasa, buku ini cocok untuk mereka yang tidak mudah percaya dengan isi berita dan judul utama media massa (atau minimal berpikirakn skeptis). Tetapi sekali lagi aku ingatkan, siapkan mental untuk bertahan dengan buku ini, kalau perlu ketahuilah hal-hal mendasar mengenai kejahatan-kejahatan yang terjadi di dunia ini selama masa pemerintahan Presiden AS Reagan, Nixon. Bush (Sr. dan Jr.), dan Clinton. Selamat berpikir dan terkaget-kaget!
• 
  António de Sousa

  For those who are still not aware of the constant presence and influence of the US in global warfare this is a huge eye opener. It is impressive the detail description and opinion presented by Chomsky in this big set of interviews. A leftist/anarchist point of view, critical to capitalism and current social status and modern human condition. A good first read for those interest in concepts such as, class warfare, global economy, third world countries wars and the roots of racism.
  This is not a book for people looking for answers, a lot of open topics for everyone to reflect about. Chomsky is clear about that. Great piece of reading!
• 
  Steven R. Kraaijeveld

  "Speaking truth to power makes no sense. There's no point in speaking the truth to Henry Kissinger—he knows it already. Instead, speak truth to the powerless—or, better, with the powerless. Then they'll act to dismantle illegitimate power." (314)
• 
  Bill Bowyer

  Chom Chom says enough to wet the palate but the rest you need to figure out on your own. In other words, he shows you the curtain but doesn't tell you what's on the other side and most importantly, who. Good writer though, smart man who cuts through the crap pretty quick, something I appreciate.
  
  -bb
• 
  Helen. A.H

  We Middle Eastern people should certainly read this book, regardless of weather you believe/ accept what’s claimed by Chomsky or not which depends on your critical evaluation of his claims and justifications!
  
  
  
  
  https://youtu.be/7PdJ9TAdTdA
• 
  Saadia B.

  3.75 Stars
  
  Relations between the US and other countries obviously go back to the origins of American history. While most of the industrial rivals were either severely weakened or totally destroyed by the World War II, the US benefited enormously from it. During World War II, study groups of the State Department and Council on Foreign Relations developed plans for the postwar world in terms of what they called the 'Grand Area' which was to be subordinated to the needs of the American economy. The US government had two major roles to play:
  1. The first was to secure the far-flung domains of the Grand Area
  2. Second was to organize a public subsidy for high-technology industry
  
  US planners stated that the primary threat to the new US-led world order was Third World nationalism - sometimes called ultranationalism: 'nationalistic regimes' that are responsive to 'popular demands for immediate improvement in the low living standards of the masses' and production of domestic needs. Though the US pays lip service to democracy, the real commitment is to 'private, capitalist enterprise'. When the rights of the investors are threatened, democracy has to go: if there rights are safeguarded, killers and torturers will do just fine. The US has always tried to establish relations with the military in foreign countries because that's one of the ways to overthrow a government that has gotten out of hand.
  
  The military typically proceeds to create an economic disaster often following the prescriptions of US advisers and then decides to hand the problem over to civilians to administer. Overt military control is no longer necessary as new devices become available - for example control exercised through IMF. In return of its loans, the IMF imposes 'liberalization': an economy open to foreign penetration and control, sharp cutbacks in services to the general population, etc. These measures place power ever more firmly in the hands of the wealthy classes and foreign investors ('stability') and reinforce the classic two-tiered societies of the Third World - the super-rich (and a relatively well-off professional class that serves them) and enormous mass of impoverished, suffering people.
  
  The indebtedness and economic chaos left by the military pretty much ensures that the IMF rules will be followed - unless popular forces attempt to enter the political arena in which case the military may have to reinstate 'stability'. US achievements in Central America in the past few decades are a major tragedy, not just because of the appalling human cost but because there were prospects of real progress towards meaningful democracy and meeting human needs with early success in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Since the 1970, the US has vetoed far more Security Council resolutions than any other country (Britain is second, France a distinct third and Soviet Union fourth). The US regularly carries out or supports aggression even in cases far more criminal than Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
  
  As long as the Soviet Union was in the game, there was a limit to how much force the US could apply in more remote areas. Because the USSR used to support governments and political movements the US was trying to destroy, there was a danger that US intervention in the Third World might explode into a nuclear war. With the Soviet deterrent gone, the US is much more free to use violence around the world, a fact that has been recognized with much satisfaction by the US policy analysts in the past several years. The Cold War was a kind of tacit agreement between the Soviet Union and the US under which the US conducted its wars against the Third World and controlled its allies in Europe while the Soviet rules kept an iron grip on their internal empire and their satellites in Eastern Europe - each side using the other to justify repercussion and violence in its own domains.
  
  Two important consequences of globalization.
  1. It extends the Third World model to industrial countries. In the Third World there's a two-tiered society - a sector of extreme wealth and privilege and a sector of huge misery and despair among useless, superfluous people
  2. The second consequence has to do with the government structures. Throughout history, the structures of government have tended to coalesce around other forms of power - in modern times primarily around economic power.
  
  Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1978 as they wanted to destroy the PLO because it was secular and nationalist and was calling for negotiations and a diplomatic settlement. That was the threat, not the terrorists. Israel keeps making the same mistake, with the same predictable results. In Lebanon they went to destroy the threat of moderation and ended up with Hezbollah (Iranian based fundamentalists) on their hands. In the West Bank, they also wanted to destroy the threat moderation - people who wanted to make a political statement. Their Israel ended up with Hamas which organizes effective guerilla attacks on Israeli security forces. US has always been a staunch supporter of Israel and have facilitated its various illegal activities through CIA and other agencies.
  
  CIA's main purpose is to carry out secret and usually illegal activities for the executive branch, which wants to keep these activities secret because it knows the public won't appreciate them. So even inside the US, it's highly undemocratic. The executive branch tries to follow policies of plausible deniability, which means that messages are given to the CIA to do things but without a paper trial, without a record. When the story comes out later, it looks as if the CIA is doing things on their own, but that's never the case.
  
  For the executive branch, a democrat is someone who follows the Western business agenda, and the best defense against democracy is to distract people which is what it does in the Third World countries.
  
  This book comprises of intensively edited speeches and interviews by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky with countless examples demonstrates that the US political system does not serve the people and that the political elite is in control of US politics. Any government which intends to serve the needs of people is labelled as communist and any form of democracy that entails popular engagement with real decision making is anathema. More importantly he demonstrates that this is by no accident and identifies a clear and publicly available documentary trail of the public policy decisions that explicitly set this corrupt system in place and maintains it today.
  
  
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• 
  Nikos Tsentemeidis

  Shattering book! Too much information about the world and USA. Chomsky has a lot of knowledge and an unbelievable clarity of mins.
• 
  Domhnall

  Chomsky can be verbose and dense so there is a need for a snappier resume of his arguments. The interview format serves some of the same ends as a severe editor working to keep him on topic - and yet Chomsky still reels from one thing to another in his own inimitable way. You have to love him.
  
  This is a collection of short booklets published in the early 1990s and it is interesting to see what was being said at the time about so many issues from that period which continue to haunt politics today, several decades later. For example, Chomsky described the concerns about and opposition to NAFTA at the time of its being passed, and one can appreciate just how depressing it is that that opposition was ignored, because many of the same arguments returned to haunt the USA in the election of Trump. He worried that the internet, because it is more impersonal, would release people to be more unpleasant to each other.
  
  To be honest, though, the book may be helpful for Americans, accustomed to living under the smog of right wing ideology and terrified of bogies like the word sshhh socialism, but for any European socialist (which let's say includes British ones) much of what Chomsky says is just common sense and fairly mild, however much it may upset people. Of course it is idiotic that the USA stands alone in the industrialised world in failing to provide a health service to its people, of course American capitalism by contrast is heavily subsidised by the state, of course military spending siphons tax dollars out of the public purse into private pockets, of course the military drive technological development while the country has almost no interest in public health or the social disaster of near Third World poverty standards.
  
  The US is also sriking among developed countries in the scale of adherence to fundamentalist religious beliefs, utterly incompatible with any half tolerable standard of public education or information. He suggests that the only near comparisons are with some Muslim countries, such as Iran, though even then the comparison is not entirely favourable to the Americans. It suggests a wilful drive towards ignorance and political passivity, while diverting energies and enthusiasm to futile distractions incapable of challenging the power of the economic elite.
  
  Chomsky reviews succinctly (for him) the imposition of fascism on Third World countries by US military and economic forces and reminds Americans that the moves to create Third World levels of inequality within the USA are advancing steadily.
  
  What Chomsky does very well is to demonstrate, with countless examples, that the US political system does not serve the people, and that to the political elite in control of US politics, any concept of the government existing to serve the needs of the people is labelled communism and any form of democracy that entails popular engagement with real decision making is anathema. More importantly he demonstrates that this is no accident; and he identifies a clear and publicly available documentary trail of the public policy decisions that explicitly set this corrupt system in place and maintains it today. This is no consiracy - it is very overt.
  
  Chomsky is not a pessimist and he certainly must require huge reserves of faith to be able to continue in his mission of explaining the bleeding obvious to the American electorate. He insists that no elite can govern any country without the consent of its people and that the American electorate has the power to throw their corrupt elite out of power and replace them with accountable, public spirited alternatives. One step in that direction is for the people to educate themselves and become politically aware, to which end Chomsky has committed his life. This book is one attempt to put the facts before them in simple words.
  
  If they have the power to know the truth, why would they choose to be deceived?
• 
  Manu

  I think the biggest proof of the US hegemony that Chomsky brings up regularly is how (relatively) unknown he is to the world at large. Because it's not the kind of publicity the US would like. It's true that the name has come up in many conversations online, and that is the reason I picked up this book, but for his quality of ideas, he really should be known and quoted a lot more.
  This book serves as a great introduction to Chomsky's perspectives, not just because of the different topics that have been covered, but also because of how accessible it is - thanks to it being derived from the spoken word through Chomsky's many media interactions. And yes, the index does help when you want to read about a specific topic and get a quote. There is some repetition, but that is to be expected, and as a contemporary reader, we may not have all the contexts, but that's also a small price to pay.
  Of the many topics covered, the US government acting as a bully inside and outside the country is one that's central. Calling out its usage of government agencies, its military, its allies, as well as international organisations like the UN to enforce its will on nations is what makes Chomsky unpopular. Any nation or leader that attempts an alternate path, especially that is good for the people in the long term, is at the receiving end of many deterrents - local and international - acting in the interest of the US. Because an example is dangerous - it shows that something is possible, countries like Vietnam and many countries in Latin America like Brazil have had to pay the price. All of this became even more easier once the Cold War ended. Though it was convenient to show the USSR as the bogeyman, the US was also good at creating other villains. Within the country, the idea is to ensure that the social, economic and political agenda of an elite class is implemented and also that the general public doesn't get to have a say in the matter even though it's supposed to be a democracy. Big business has an important play in this and over a period of time, media which is supposed to be a conscience-keeper, becomes a cheerleader.
  It's amazing how well his insights age, as many of them can be used in current contexts. It is also fascinating to see history rhyme - Daimler-Benz and Fidelity as predecessors to Big Tech in holding cities ransom and threatening to vote with their feet if they didn't get tax cuts.
  On one hand, it is a little heartening that the problems we face now aren't new. The scale and manifestation might have changed, but the fundamental causes are the same. On the other hand, it does seem that there really is no hope on things getting better - the wealth gap decreasing, or the common citizen getting a level playing field. Chomsky's view is that these are not laws of nature and that the individual can play a role in changing things, but he points out that it only works if everyone takes the subway. If some drive, it's going to be better for those who drive! Classic prisoner's dilemma. When educated classes line up for a parade, he says, people of conscience have three options - march in the parade, join the cheering throngs on the sidelines, or speak out against the parade (and of course, expect a price for doing that!) and that's been the story for a thousand years and more.
  I am not sure I have read anyone else who has so much information on things that happened in the world and is able to cite examples for any question asked, is able to convert that into knowledge that connects the assorted pieces, and then deliver such timeless insights. Irreplaceable, I think.
• 
  Shadin Pranto

  টানা ১ মাসব্যাপী বইটা পড়লাম। একটু একটু করে পড়েছি। কোনোদিন ১০ পৃষ্ঠা তো কোনোদিন পড়লামই না।
  
  বইটার নামের বাঙলা আমি করি "দুনিয়া চলে ক্যামনে"
  
  নোম চমস্কি ই মূলত প্রধান লেখক বইটির।
  
  দুনিয়া চলে কীভাবে, কারা দুনিয়াবি অর্থনীতি, রাজনীতি নিয়ন্ত্রণ করে?
  
  নোম চমস্কি মনে করেন, মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্র ই বস। তারাই দুনিয়াময় ঘটনা ঘটিয়ে বেড়ায়।
  তারা পানামা,নিকারাগুয়া, চিলি,ভিয়েতনাম, কম্বোডিয়া, লাওস, ইরাক,আফগানিস্তানে হামলা চালায় গণতন্ত্রের নাম করে। লাখো নিরীহ মানুষ মারে আর মিডিয়ায় তা প্রকাশ পায় হাজারের কাতারে।
  যুক্তরাষ্ট্র "জাতীয় স্বার্থ " নামক টার্মিনোলজির সদ্ব্যবহার কতোটা করতে পারে তার দৃষ্টান্তে ভরপুর এ বই। জনকল্যাণের নামকরে মার্কিনি ও তার মিত্রপক্ষ দেশগুলোর কার্যকলাপ বুঝতে বইটি বেশ সহায়ক ছিলো।
  
  মিডিয়াকে পুঁজিবাদ কতো নোংরাভাবে ব্যবহার করে তার যথেষ্ট প্রমাণ দেখিয়েছেন চমস্কি। গণমাধ্যমের এজেন্ডা বাস্তবায়ন করা ��েন পুঁজিবাদ, মার্কিনযুক্তরাষ্ট্র ও তার দোসরদের দালালি করার শামিল -এই বিষয়ে আর সন্দেহ নেই।
• 
  Billie Pritchett

  Noam Chomsky's How the World Works (HWW) has an awfully high-falutin' title, but it seems to be quite accurate in describing the content. HWW is actually a collection of four abridged books, some of which are interviews with Chomsky, others of which are books that had been written by Chomsky. If there's one basic theme for the book, it is this truism: that governments and large businesses operate in their own interests and not in the interests of the people they are supposed to serve.
  
  I say this is a truism because when stated like this, it is difficult for anyone to disagree with. Yet somehow I and I'm sure others are often unwilling to accept what that would actually mean. Just to give an example that might illustrate this would be the issue of free trade. The basic idea of free trade is that people be able to exchange goods and services without the outside influence of governments or thieves. In a free market, government's only role is to protect against fraud or any violation that would cease to make trade free. The actual implementation of so-called free market systems, however, is nothing like how the free market is supposed to work. For instance, governments, including the US government, routinely use protectionist tactics that would limit trade with countries that they deem enemies or simply limit trade with outside countries because these governments would only like to trade within their own national borders; hardly free trade.
  
  To take another example, there have been serious efforts to convince people that welfare for people, in whatever form, is wrong and discourages self-reliance. There is no opposition, though, to corporate welfare, for example, where companies deemed too big to fail are regularly provided government subsidies to continue to exist. Examples go on and on.
  
  What this book and others like it remind me of is how hypocritical I am and how hypocritical societies can be with regard these issues. And it takes a certain level of time and vigilance and social change and action to make any difference in these issues.
• 
  Xara Kozaki

  Noam, it's been a pleasure.
• 
  Ben Lever

  Noam Chomsky’s omnibus How The World Works is made up of four of his earlier books - What Uncle Sam Really Wants; The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many; Secrets, Lies and Democracy; and The Common Good. These four are made up of edited transcripts of radio interviews Chomsky did through the 80s and 90s, and the format works quite well - the questions are useful starting points, and Chomsky mostly just uses them as a springboard from which to make points, so they tend not to intrude too much.
  
  As for the actual content? I cannot overstate how thoroughly brilliant this man is. I like to think I’m fairly well aware of the way things work but Chomsky has opened my eyes more than anyone else ever has - granted, I wasn’t completely wrong before, but it goes so much further than I ever realised. Chomsky details how the US interferes with foreign countries, how it uses propaganda, obfuscating language and outright lies to get away with it, how the media is complicit in much of this, and the ultimate goals towards which it is working. It’s fascinating to see how thoroughly imperialistic the US is - at least on the scale of colonial Britain, though their control is usually less direct.
  
  There is some assumed knowledge that makes it a little inaccessible. For example, Chomsky repeatedly points out newsworthy events that were conspicuously absent from the Western media, but effectively assumes that the reader will be familiar with anything that was reported in the media. It was possible from context and from vague knowledge of the history involved to understand what was going on, but since I was born in 1987 I wasn’t even conscious for most of the events he’s talking about. If you’re around my age and aren’t very familiar with South American geopolitics you will need Wikipedia on hand while reading, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
  
  This aside, the book is very accessible. Chomsky has a wonderful way of explaining very complicated, very unfamiliar concepts in plain English that anyone can understand. You may find yourself resisting believing what he says at times, it’s so shocking, but this is really the only difficulty you should have with his arguments. I think the fact that it comes from interviews, and is therefore very conversational, helps this.
  
  If you’re only going to read one, read What Uncle Sam Really Wants. But I really would urge anyone and everyone to read all of it - it is compelling and hugely important stuff. Chomsky says it best in the last paragraph of the book - “The future can be changed. But we can’t change things unless we begin to understand them.” This holds true for Americans and foreigners alike.
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  Alex Francis

  It's worth noting that as a coherent book this isn't great, being a collection of pamphlets reprinted together. It's also irritating that notes from the originals were omitted based on an editorial view that they were out of date. Despite those shortcomings, and in part owing to my naivete in the subject matter, I found the material sufficiently explosive and the arguments so intelligently constructed that I'd rate this one of the most important books I've read. Chomsky is set apart by his historian's rigour and ability to present current events within their historical context while at the same time sounding a clarion call that the same patterns cannot be allowed to continue.
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  Public Scott

  I love Chomsky's bluntness... reading this is like visiting some wise old monk and getting lots of surprisingly simple answers to a lot of big questions. Many aren't ready to hear what this man has to say, but I think there is a lot of truth in Chomsky's worldview.
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  Kerem

  A collection of his various interviews on a broad range of topics from economy to disastrous wars or coups, the book is not only a solid account of Chomsky's invaluable insights to the world and what we could do about it, but also a really accessible one. It is very easy to see why he's mostly ignored in the US media, but he keeps not giving up, which is a good thing for everyone (except the few benefiting hugely from the system). The first of the four books gets at times into the grotesque details of what's happening around, but the remaining three are softer in that aspect. A must read for getting a wee bit better of an idea on the world itself...
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  Mat

  Chomsky has a tendency to write in long, convoluted sentences, so the purpose of this book is to make him more accessible by offering transcripts of interviews. It works. The stuff on corporations being totalitarian tyrannies should hit home for everyone who works in one.
  A favourite quote: "The press isn’t in the business of letting people know how power works. It would be crazy to expect that....They’re part of the power system—why should they expose it?”
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  Erkin Unlu

  Chomsky'nin dili agir olsa da, Amerika'nin dunyada kimlere neden dusmanlik guttugunu onlarca ornekle aciklamasi acisindan cok faydali. Ayrica Lenin ve Soyvetler'e elestirel yaklasimi da dikkate deger. Aslinda bildiginiz (veya tahmin ettiginiz) bir cok olguyu kafanizda yerine oturtmanizi saglayan guzel bir nehir soylesiler butunu. Sorulari soran adam da bilgili ve sol akimdan bir kisi.
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  Cem

  A very educating piece of work, an interesting look at the not-so-behind-the-scenes global politics/profits we see today. Although the examples are a little dated, Chomsky's arguments will be valid for quite some time.
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  Chelle

  "Speaking truth to power makes no sense. There's no point in speaking the truth to Henry Kissinger--he knows it already. Instead, speak truth to the powerless--or, better, with the powerless. They they'll act to dismantle illegitimate power."
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  Vlad

  How can one not be outraged at US Foreign policy when it's nothing but corporate interests? - this is Chomsky's clear message. Although written in the 90s these texts are still very relevant today. A must read.
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  Lukas Simons

  Een must-read, en al zeker voor iedereen die niet erg linksgezind is en/of het grote geld najaagt.
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  Oussama Nakkal

  A thought-provoking and eye-opening book. An essential material to be introduced to chomsky's views on the politics and economics running the world in the shadows of mainstream media and thought.
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  Eimad

  wow.very hard to read but worth it.full of idea and truth about Neoconservative,New World Order and else.time to think out of box.to quote Noam Chomsky Pick your cause and go volunteer for a group that's working on it - Noam Chomsky.this is a collection of essay like(it is interview actually) and short books combined together.although some of his books written in 1970 the idea sound more and more updated.after all now is past Arab Spring.a must read for powerless(us).do not let the ruler(read:business tyrannies aka capitalist) oppress us.with that being said that does not mean i agree with everything he read but still most of it.
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  Muhammad Ridha Ar-Rasyid

  I feel amazed. This book opened my eyes wide and wider. Chomsky did a great job with this book, and it couldn't finished well if David Barsamian didn't ask critical question - almost "every-single-thing" - about how the world really works.
  
  Chomsky explained that with such a great insight, with economical science, reigions, political science, and the government itself. It isn't just about the US, but the third world as main object.
  
  Then, I must give a standing applause to him and David for this book.
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  Paulo

  A great introduction to Chomsky's ideas based on conversations, talks and radio debates. Starts off with a bang, denouncing the US foreign policy after WW2 that goes on the present day but it does get a little repetitive - this actually being four books compiled into one probably helps as well. Nevertheless, the reason why Chomsky has been such a respected intellectual for decades on end is very well displayed in these pages.