Conducted from 1984 to 1996, these interviews first appeared in the books Chronicles of Dissent, Keeping the Rabble in Line, and Class Warfare, all published by the independent publisher Common Courage Press in Monroe, Maine.
This omnibus collection includes a new introduction by David Barsamian, looking back on conversations and engagement with Chomsky’s ideas that now spans decades, as well as a classic essay by Alexander Cockburn on Chomsky that served as the introduction to one of the original volumes.
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor (emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. His work is widely credited with having revolutionized the field of modern linguistics. Chomsky is the author of numerous best-selling political works, which have been translated into scores of languages. Recent books include What Kind of Creatures Are We?, as well as Optimism Over Despair, and Internationalism of Extinction.
Publication date: February 8, 2022
"These interviews with Chomsky, conducted between 1984 and 1991, focus almost exclusively on the noted linguist's controversial political views. This volume is thus a good introduction to his political thought for those who are intimidated by his densely argued, exhaustively footnoted essays and books. The discussions range all over world history, from Columbus to the Gulf War, but they return repeatedly to certain pet topics--Israel as U.S. client-state, the perversion of language by propaganda, the pervasiveness of American imperialist designs and the complicity of a large sector of the intelligentsia and media in those machinations.... What sets this book apart from Chomsky's other writings are the passages in which he relates his political ideas to his childhood and youth in New York and Philadelphia—a refreshing dip into autobiography by an otherwise impersonal observer." —Publishers Weekly
by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé
by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé