Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133667 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-04
• Released on: 2006-04-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 314 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Forget Iraq and Sudan--America is the foremost failed state, argues the latest polemic from America's most controversial Left intellectual. Chomsky (Imperial Ambitions) contends the U.S. government wallows in lawless military aggression (the Iraq war is merely the latest example); ignores public opinion on everything from global warming to social spending and foreign policy; and jeopardizes domestic security by under-funding homeland defense in favor of tax cuts for the rich and by provoking hatred and instability abroad that may lead to terrorist blowback or nuclear conflict. Ranging haphazardly from the Seminole War forward, Chomsky's jeremiad views American interventionism as a pageant of imperialist power-plays motivated by crass business interests. Disdaining euphemisms, he denounces American "terror" and "war crimes," castigates the public-bamboozling "government-media propaganda campaign" and floats comparisons to Mongols and Nazis. Chomsky's fans will love it, but even mainstream critics are catching up to the substance of his take on Bush Administration policies; meanwhile his uncompromising moral sensibility, icy logic and withering sarcasm remain in a class by themselves. Required reading for every thoughtful citizen.
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From AudioFile
Beware of unsupported assertions! Beware of zealotry! Beware of righteous indignation! In other words, take Noam Chomsky with a grain of salt. The ground-breaking linguist and vociferous political iconoclast launches yet another jeremiad on the world situation and American culpability. What he calls "failed states," the rest of us may know as "rogue states," those whose citizens are in chaos and fear, and whose policies threaten international stability. Without blunting Chomsky's message, gravelly voiced Alan Sklar ably emphasizes his eloquence and dials down his shrillness. He eases the way for the objective listener to judge Chomsky's interpretation of current events, to separate the wheat from the chaff of his arguments. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author
Noam Chomsky is the author of numerous bestselling political works, from American Power and the New Mandarins in the 1960s to Hegemony or Survival in 2003. A professor of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, he lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

American foreign policy is the pits
Ever since learning about Ron Paul last January, my interest in politics, especially those of the libertarian position, have increased approximately 800%. I considered myself a libertarian a good year before learning about him and his campaign but once I got into his message and delved deeper into the foreign policies of the likes of McCain, Obama, Hillary, and past figures such as Reagan and Bill Clinton, I was revolutionized and cured of any and all political apathy I had. Of course my libertarian views don't just rest on foreign policy, but it is a large part of my concern.

So though I generally do not agree with Noam Chomsky on economics and private property, I understand where he's coming from and I know he means well; I generally agree with the rest of his views, including his foreign policy views which are similar to Ron Paul inasmuch as he views the United States' arrogance with nation-building and intervention as a key problem in the world today. This is actually the first Chomsky book I have read and will not be the last. Presented almost in the manner of an extended thesis paper (quotes and citations are in the thousands in this book), it makes for a stimulated if occasionally dry read as Chomsky begins by dissecting America's interventionist "democracy promoting" policies in Iraq, Vietnam, and elsewhere as well as our supreme hypocrisy with propping up brutal regimes in places such as Indochina and elsewhere. He mentions that as conflicts such as the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia raged, brutal dictators elsewhere were left unscathed, as our economic and resource interests lay abound with the support of many of these brutal regime. Chomsky proves in a very academic sense how few (and possibly none) of our foreign policy intrusions since Woodrow Wilson (and dating back to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson) have been for much more than empire-building, resource claiming, and the removal and/or propping-up of dictators who are against our interests (in the former's case) and who will be an aid to our interests (in the latter).

Though I found Chomsky to be somewhat of a dry writer (like I said, the book assumes you have a vast knowledge of American foreign policy history past and present), he is brilliant. When I say dry I mean that it is very clinical and not written in a way that might grab the average reader, but for readers like myself with an attention span and an interest in the subject it is a blast to read. I found myself marking pages and highlighting a lot so I could go back and do further research upon completion.

In short, this is an excellent read for anyone curious about America's disastrous and insanely hypocritical and arrogant policies towards our fellow nations. Neocon republicans (and some Democrats who worship the likes of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) will be brought to rage by its brutal honesty, but in the end will not be able to intelligently refute any of it. Highly recommended.

Classic Chomsky
Any seasoned Chomsky fan will find much to chew on in this book. Same strident tone, dry humour, deft wit, and outrageous sarcasm as always. Failed States applies the the paradigm that US policy wonks have created for assessing our official enemies and applies it to ourselves. As Chomsky says, "it is a moral truism that we apply to ourselves the standards we apply to others." Not surprisingly, Chomsky finds that the US is a failed state with a democratic deficit and a notorious habit of illegal interventions.

This book is reminiscent of Rogue States, where Chomsky used the then de rigour foreign policy parlance and, once again, found that the US would qualify as the worlds largest and most powerful rogue state.


The book contains tremendous overlap with other books Chomsky has written. It also is maddeningly written in a non-chronological, course, repetitive manner. This is par the course for Chomsky books. Does this mean I think the book to be worthless? On the contrary, my whole political education is little more than a series of footnotes to Chomsky books. The rewards of reading Chomsky's work are stupendous. I am simply warning the reader to be open minded, intrepid, and pedantic when reading Chomsky. It is not always easy.

Topics covered include:

Iran
Iraq
Middle East
Katrina
Science being attacked

Regular Chomsky Polemic
If you are a fan of Noam Chomsky and familiar with his views, ideas and past writings, then there is nothing new to be found in this book. While the title provides a background theme, it's barely connected in a cohesive way to its content. But then again, that's most of Chomsky's books.

Of course if you are not familiar with Chomsky's work of the past, including his views, then this will be a new material, unfortunately lacking in depth. Hence, most new readers are unlikely to be convinced by this latest polemic.

Chomsky dedicates most of the book going through his regular mantra, from Vietnam War, US terrorism against Cuba under Kennedy, Reagan's war on terror in Central America, Bush's and Clinton's subversion of Haiti, Persian Gulf War, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, current Iraq War and the possibility of Iran War. That's of course nothing new given nearly identical sentiments expressed in all of his previous works, including "Hegemony or Survival". What's perhaps slightly original is what he discusses towards the end of the book: America's democracy. He makes a rather brief but convincing case that our democracy is in danger, much as it has been in the past, but with renewed intensity, particularly beginning during the 2000 elections. He discusses the marketing of candidates (which he properly compares to marketing of toothpaste, cars, etc.), public policy vs. public opinion, where there is a major gap, and provides some basic statistics about the falling wages, rising corporate profits and etc.

What's perhaps most unique about this work is the added sense of sharp, sarcastic humor one would expect of a top notch political humorist (Bill Maher, John Stewart come to mind), which provides an amusing side to a book which is supposed to be sad. Sometimes this humor is even hard to follow and detect, but once one accustoms to finding it, it results in an almost outright laughter, not to mention that it arms the reader with a plethora of quotes he/she can use in the future.

Overall, it's a good read to refresh one's memories of America's atrocious foreign policy, which is sad. On the contrary, it's a fun read due to Chomsky's hidden but witty humor. However, don't expect anything new, deep or analytical. This is neither a historical nor a scholarly work.