Chomsky's Politics - Softcover

Rai, Milan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859840116 ISBN 13: 9781859840115

Publisher: Verso Books, 1995

Synopsis

For over twenty-five years Noam Chomsky’s prolific political intervention has enlightened and inspired radicals while enraging their opponents in the halls of power. Beginning with a concise biography of his subject, Milan Rai presents a sympathetic yet probing analysis of Chomsky’s critique of United States’ media and foreign policy and his vision of a libertarian socialist future. 

Drawing on the entire range of Chomsky’s prodigious output, including little-known interviews and articles, Rai examines Chomsky’s assault on journalistic self-censorship and business control of the mass media. He shows how Chomsky challenges the US’s view of itself as a defender of democracy and equal rights by uncovering the hidden motivations of its foreign policy makers. Rai draws out features of Chomsky’s outlook which are sometimes obscured by a rapid coverage of a wide range of issues. In particular he emphasizes the importance of Chomsky’s cultural critique in his ordering of political priorities.

Accessible and comprehensive, Chomsky’s Politics serves as an excellent introduction for those confronting Chomsky’s critique for the first time. For those already familiar with his work it corrects some widespread misunderstandings, provides new insights and chronicles the extraordinary contribution of a writer described by the New York Times as “one of the most important intellectuals alive.”

About this title

Review

Besides being perhaps the most important living linguist, Noam Chomsky has also for the past 25 years been a leading political commentator and critic. In this role he has been somewhat less influential, if for no other reason than that the media powers that be have consistently shunned him. His political books (latest count: more than 20) are not reviewed in the major papers and even NPR avoids him. So the picture of Chomsky's political philosophy this book provides is a useful one, focusing especially on his assault on journalism's self-censorship and corporate control of the mass media, areas well illustrated by Chomsky's own career. And we learn that Chomsky, far from being a strident elitist, aims to reach the "vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent," and is known to reply to letters from strangers within days in voluminous but polite single-spaced detail.

About the Author

Milan Rai is the author of Chomsky’s Politics and was awarded the 1993 Frank Cousins Peace Award for Research by the Transport and General Workers Union.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1859840116
• ISBN 13: 9781859840115
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 225