Noam Chomsky is considered the father of modern linguistics. In this richly detailed criticism of American foreign policy, he seeks to redefine many of the terms commonly used in the ongoing American war on terrorism. Surveying U.S. actions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Turkey, the Far East and elsewhere over the past half a century along with the modern American war in Iraq, Chomsky indicates that America is just as much a terrorist state as any other government or rogue organization. George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq drew worldwide criticism, in part because it seemed to present a new philosophy of pre-emptive war and an appearance of global empire building. But according to Chomsky, such has been the operating philosophy of American foreign policy for decades. Opponents of the Bush administration's tactics consistently point out how the American government supported Saddam Hussein for many years prior to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait (pictures of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand are easy to come by) as a means of pointing out how the United States is happy to fund despots when it's in American interests. But Chomsky, armed with extensive historical notation, takes this notion further, arguing how the repression of other nations' citizenry is, in fact, the very reason Americans support certain foreign leaders. The charges made throughout the book are severe, as are the dire consequences he posits if current trends are not reversed, and Chomsky is no more likely to make friends or gain supporters from the mainstream now than he's ever been. But Hegemony or Survival is relatively dispassionate. Instead of relying on camp or shock value or personal attacks as some of his contemporaries have done, Chomsky drives his well-supported points steadily forward in an earnest and highly readable style. --John Moe


From Publishers Weekly
In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose 9-11 was a bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy-an "imperial grand strategy"-in which the United States has attempted to "maintain its hegemony through the threat or use of military force." Such an analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 condemned Washington for "unlawful use of force" ("international terrorism, in lay terms" Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua. Claiming that the U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its "contempt for international law," Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The much-respected linguist, Noam Chomsky, makes a brief appearance at the beginning of this densely written audiobook. While he has an interesting voice, it's a blessing that Brian Jones takes care of the reading duties, which he does with little trouble, despite the preponderance of layered concepts deeply steeped in historical layers of democratic deeds and misdeeds. Hegemony? A word not many of us kick around the water cooler, but used often enough here for listeners to appreciate Chomsky's erudite outrage at the course of American events since the nation's inception. In this revealing and well-researched work, which is sure to raise the hackles of Republican listeners, Chomsky is the foil to Orwell's Big Brother--twenty years after 1984. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Intellectual activist Chomsky takes aim at the Bush administration's policy of preemptive force against terrorism and sees it as part of a U.S. bent toward hegemony. Citing examples of similarly aggressive policies from previous administrations, Chomsky posits that the U.S. has been heading in this direction for generations. As the world's lone superpower and with the justification of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. has accelerated the troubling trend, with disastrous implications for foreign and domestic policy. Drawing parallels with nineteenth-century Britain, Chomsky examines the current U.S. world posture and growing willingness to act unilaterally. The country's sense of its role in world history and its noble ideals--not to mention its military might--have given rise to the notion that its motives and actions are not to be questioned at home or abroad. Chomsky offers a cautionary look at where we may be headed as a nation and the growing threats to world peace and personal freedom. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Praise for Noam Chomsky

“Judged in terms of the power, range, novelty, and influence of his thought, Noam Chomsky is arguably the most important intellectual alive.” —The New York Times



Book Description
From the world's foremost intellectual activist, an irrefutable analysis of America's pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that are sure to follow

The United States is in the process of staking out not just the globe but the last unarmed spot in our neighborhood-the heavens-as a militarized sphere of influence. Our earth and its skies are, for the Bush administration, the final frontiers of imperial control. In Hegemony or Survival , Noam Chomsky investigates how we came to this moment, what kind of peril we find ourselves in, and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species.

With the striking logic that is his trademark, Chomsky dissects America's quest for global supremacy, tracking the U.S. government's aggressive pursuit of policies intended to achieve "full spectrum dominance" at any cost. He lays out vividly how the various strands of policy-the militarization of space, the ballistic-missile defense program, unilateralism, the dismantling of international agreements, and the response to the Iraqi crisis-cohere in a drive for hegemony that ultimately threatens our survival. In our era, he argues, empire is a recipe for an earthly wasteland.

Lucid, rigorous, and thoroughly documented, Hegemony or Survival promises to be Chomsky's most urgent and sweeping work in years, certain to spark widespread debate.



Download Description
The United States is in the process of staking out not just the globe but the last unarmed spot in our neighborhood-the heavens-as a militarized sphere of influence. Our earth and its skies are, for the Bush administration, the final frontiers of imperial control. In Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky investigates how we came to this moment, what kind of peril we find ourselves in, and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species.


About the Author
Noam Chomsky is the author of numerous bestselling political works, from American Power and the New Mandarins in the 1960s to 9-11 in 2001. A professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, he is widely credited with having revolutionized modern linguistics. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.



Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
We are entering a period of human history that may provide an answer to the question of whether there is intelligent life on earth, at least in the sense of "intelligence" that might be admired by a sensible extraterrestrial observer. The most hopeful prospect is that the question will not be answered: for any definitive response can only conclude that humans are a kind of "biological error," using their allotted 100,000 years—the life expectancy of a species—to destroy themselves and, in the process, much else. Humans have surely developed the capacity to do just that: our hypothetical extraterrestrial observer might argue that they have demonstrated that destructiveness throughout their history, and dramatically so in the past few hundred years—with an assault on biological diversity, on the environment that sustains life, and, with cold and calculated savagery, on each other as well.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In this important addition to the literature of public policy, intellectual activist Noam Chomsky presents a scrupulously researched critique of America's "imperial grand strategy" -- a quest for dominance at any cost that not only has cast us in the role of a rogue superpower but also jeopardizes the very survival of humanity. Examining the roots of this post-WWII version of Manifest Destiny, Chomsky combs through half a century of American history for vivid examples of military aggression cloaked in the sheep's clothing of "self-defense" (Cuba, Vietnam), "preventive warfare" (Granada, Nicaragua), "humanitarian intervention" (Kosovo, East Timor), and "war on terrorism" (Iraq).

Chomsky argues that the Washington propaganda machine offers up a spin cycle of patriotic bromides designed to mask the true, self-serving motives of our government. With this as his foundation, he exposes the tradition of dominant elitism that has motivated American presidents from Roosevelt and Kennedy to Reagan and the Bushes. In case after case, he shows how policy makers have ignored public opinion and run roughshod over international law -- thereby perpetrating terrorist acts as ruthless as those they oppose. Chomsky uses the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a stunning example of how the grand imperial strategy has backfired. Far from eliminating the threat of terrorism, the war against Saddam Hussein has enhanced terrorist activity, as potential targets of U.S. aggression begin to see weapons of mass destruction as the only deterrent to American intervention. Clearly, Chomsky believes the stakes in this dangerous game of global hegemony have never been higher. Reading his thoroughly researched, copiously footnoted, and always engaging analysis, it is difficult not to agree. Anne Markowski

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An Immediate National Bestseller, Hegemony or Survival Demonstrates How, for more than half a century, the United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy with the aim of staking out the globe. Our leaders have shown themselves willing -- as in the Cuban missile crisis -- to follow the dream of dominance no matter how high the risks. World-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky here investigates how we came to this perilous moment and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species. With the striking logic that is his trademark, Chomsky tracks the US government's aggressive pursuit of "full spectrum dominance" and vividly lays out how the most recent manifestations of the politics of global control -- from unilateralism to the dismantling of international agreements to state terrorism -- cohere in a drive for hegemony that ultimately threatens our existence. Lucidly written, thoroughly documented, and featuring a new afterword about the war in Iraq, Hegemony or Survival is a definitive statement from one of today's most influential thinkers.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

… reading Chomsky today is sobering and instructive for two reasons. First, his critiques have come to influence and reflect mainstream opinion elsewhere in the world; and second, the radicalism of the Bush administration has laid bare many of the structural defects in American foreign policy, defects that Chomsky has long assailed. — Samantha Power

Publishers Weekly

In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose 9-11 was a bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy-an "imperial grand strategy"-in which the United States has attempted to "maintain its hegemony through the threat or use of military force." Such an analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 condemned Washington for "unlawful use of force" ("international terrorism, in lay terms" Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua. Claiming that the U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its "contempt for international law," Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy. (Nov.) FYI: This is the first title in the new American Empire Project, which the publisher describes as "provocative and critical books that will focus on the increasingly imperial cast of America's government and policy." Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Chomsky bemoans America's carrying imperialist tendencies into space. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile