Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Selected by Newsweek as one of "14 nonfiction books you'll want to read this fall" Fifty years after it first appeared, one of Noam Chomsky's greatest essays will be published for the first time as a timely stand-alone book, with a new preface by the author
As a nineteen-year-old undergraduate in 1947, Noam Chomsky was deeply affected by articles about the responsibility of intellectuals written by Dwight Macdonald, an editor of Partisan Review and then of Politics. Twenty years later, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Chomsky turned to the question himself, noting that "intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments" and to analyze their "often hidden intentions."
Originally published in the New York Review of Books, Chomsky's essay eviscerated the "hypocritical moralism of the past" (such as when Woodrow Wilson set out to teach Latin Americans "the art of good government") and exposed the shameful policies in Vietnam and the role of intellectuals in justifying it.
Also included in this volume is the brilliant The Responsibility of Intellectuals Redux, written on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which makes the case for using privilege to challenge the state. As relevant in 2017 as it was in 1967, The Responsibility of Intellectuals reminds us that "privilege yields opportunity and opportunity confers responsibilities." All of us have choices, even in desperate times.
Synopsis
In one of his most famous essays, Noam Chomsky lays out the idea that intellectuals' relative privilege imbues them with greater responsibility--one that was to be the guiding principle of his intellectual life
"Chomsky is a global phenomenon. . . . He may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet." --The New York Times Book Review
As a nineteen-year-old undergraduate in 1947, Noam Chomsky was deeply affected by articles about the responsibility of intellectuals written by Dwight Macdonald, an editor of Partisan Review and then of Politics. Twenty years later, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Chomsky turned to the question himself, noting that "intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments" and to analyze their "often hidden intentions."
Originally published in the New York Review of Books, Chomsky's essay eviscerated the "hypocritical moralism of the past" (such as when Woodrow Wilson set out to teach Latin Americans "the art of good government") and exposed the destructive policies in Vietnam and the role of intellectuals in justifying them.
Chomsky then turns to the "war on terror" and "enhanced interrogation" of the Bush years in "The Responsibility of Intellectuals Redux," an essay written on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. As relevant now as it was in 1967, The Responsibility of Intellectuals reminds us that "privilege yields opportunity and opportunity confers responsibilities."
Synopsis
Chomsky is a rock star: Bono called him the "Elvis of academia." Recently featured by the NYT Education Life section (11/6/16), Chomsky is frequently in the news and has recently debunked critiques by the right-winger Tom Wolfe in The Kingdom of Speech (Little, Brown) and by the anthropologist Chris Knight in Decoding Chomsky (Yale).
Profile: Chomsky has such a significant public profile that there is now Chomsky merch available, from mugs to T-shirts and luggage tags ( ) to a ceramic garden gnome marketed as "Gnome Chomsky." He supported Bernie Sanders and predicted the rise of a candidate like Donald Trump long before Trump came on the scene.
Still speaking out: Now 87, Chomsky continues to speak publicly and to publish books and opinion pieces. Asked how he accounts for his amazing energy levels, he credits the "bicycle theory" that "as long as you keep riding you don't fall."
Anniversary: Although Chomsky will not explicitly promote this book, we will do our best to take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the original NYRB essay and to tie it to our own 25th anniversary in 2017.
Consistent best-seller: Chomsky is a best-selling author whose books have sold millions of copies.