You either love Chomsky or hate him, theres very little middle ground.
This book is a collection of interviews with him over the last couple of years, covering many topics mainly around Americas empire and how they view the rest of the world. He gives the impression of someone who has a lot of information at his fingertips, though how much of what he sees is conspiracy theory he generates himself and how much comes from real facts is something difficult to get from this kind of book.
A couple of times he describes America, or some of the States, as “Failed states”, which is a term the Americans have taken to using to help justify their interference in places like Afghanistan (though I think it fairer to describe the part of the region the Taliban control as a failed state – which is one of the reasons there is such difficulty with negotiations there…if it were to be recognised as a full-fledged state things would be very different).
His world-view is self consistent, if a little on the paranoid side of things. More interesting is the clarity of his thinking and talking. Being a linguist his words are concise and very precise, while making little demand on the reader to interpret what he means. This makes it an easy read, at least if you’re interested in the subject matter.
Love him or hate him I reckon this is a worthwhile read – it will reinforce your opinion one way or another, and give you better knowlege of the subject.
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