Noam Chomsky: What Uncle Sam Really Wants

Neat essay on the politics and US foreign policy by Noam Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky is a major figure in twentieth-century linguistics. Born in Philadelphia in 1928, he’s taught since 1955 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became a full professor at the age of 32.
In addition to his work as a linguist, Chomsky has written many books on contemporary issues. His political talks have been heard, typically by standing-room-only audiences, all over the country and the globe.
In a saner world, his tireless efforts to promote justice would have long since won him the Nobel Peace Prize, but the committee keeps giving it to people like Henry Kissinger.
If you’re used to thinking of the United States as the defender of democracy throughout the world, you’ll find much of what you read in this book incredible. But Chomsky is a scholar; the facts in this book are just that, and every conclusion is backed by massive evidence (see the notes for references to some of it).
It was very hard to compress the vast sweep of Chomsky’s social thought into so small a book. You’ll find a list of his other political books, which cover the topics introduced here in infinitely greater detail, on p. 102.
Hundreds of tapes and transcripts of Chomsky’s talks and interviews (and those of many other interesting speakers) are available from David Barsamian, 2129 Mapleton, Boulder CO 80304, 303/444-8788 (free catalog on request).
Uncle Sam: Editors’ forword