Understanding Power
The Indispensable Chomsky
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Narrated by:
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Robin Bloodworth
About this listen
A major new collection from "arguably the most important intellectual alive" (The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power.
In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions, all published here for the first time, Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign policy during Vietnam to the decline of welfare under the Clinton administration. And as he elucidates the connection between America's imperialistic foreign policy and the decline of domestic social services, Chomsky also discerns the necessary steps to take toward social change. With an eye to political activism and the media's role in popular struggle, as well as U.S. foreign and domestic policy, Understanding Power offers a sweeping critique of the world around us and is definitive Chomsky. Characterized by Chomsky's accessible and informative style, this is the ideal book for those new to his work as well as for those who have been listening for years.
©2002 Noam Chomsky, Peter Rounds Mitchell, and John Schoeffel (P)2014 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Donald Trump, the Left's Assault on America, and How We Take Back Our Country
- By: Sebastian Gorka
- Narrated by: Dennis Prager, Sebastian Gorka
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Our country is at war with itself. On one side are American patriots, dedicated to freedom under the Constitution; on the other side are leftists campaigning not just to win elections, but to radically transform the nation. In this political war for the soul of our country, America’s patriots need a strategist with a blueprint for victory. Luckily, we have such a man in Dr. Sebastian Gorka - a former strategist for President Trump and now a nationally syndicated radio host and a fearless culture warrior.
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Great Book
- By Margie Books on 12-05-19
By: Sebastian Gorka
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How Democracy Ends
- By: David Runciman
- Narrated by: David Runciman
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated 20th-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable....
By: David Runciman
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Death of the Liberal Class
- By: Chris Hedges
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Chris Hedges examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues that there are five pillars of the liberal establishment and that each of these institutions has sold out the constituents it represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
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Integrity-Can You Tell Me Where It's Gone?
- By Mel on 06-14-12
By: Chris Hedges
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Winter Is Coming
- Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped
- By: Garry Kasparov
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
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The ascension of Vladimir Putin - a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 should have been a signal that the country was headed away from democracy. Yet in the intervening years - as America and the world's other leading powers have continued to appease him - Putin has grown into not only a dictator but a global threat. With his vast resources and nuclear weapons, Putin is at the center of a worldwide assault on political liberty.
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A polemic against Putin
- By David on 05-27-16
By: Garry Kasparov
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Fidel Castro
- A Spoken Autobiography
- By: Fidel Castro, Ignacio Ramonet
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren, Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 26 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, people have tried to persuade the leader of the Cuban Revolution to tell his own life story. Ignacio Ramonet, the celebrated editor in chief of Le Monde diplomatique, has finally succeeded. For the first time, in a series of extensive and probing interviews, Fidel Castro describes his life from the 1950s to the present day.
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In His Own Words
- By Roy on 06-09-09
By: Fidel Castro, and others
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A Journey
- My Political Life
- By: Tony Blair
- Narrated by: Tony Blair
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
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This is Tony Blair’s firsthand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the decisions necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues including Gordon Brown, the negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services in Britain since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage.
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History can only ever be accepted judgments
- By W. J. Young on 09-14-10
By: Tony Blair
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Someone Has to Say It
- The Hidden History of How America Was Lost
- By: Tom Kawczynski
- Narrated by: Jeff Winston
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Starting at the turn of the last century, this book lays out systematically how Americans have lost control of our government, of our civil society, of our schools, of our companies, and in many cases, even our families.
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Great and inspiring book
- By K. E. Davila on 07-09-20
By: Tom Kawczynski
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Bullies
- How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans
- By: Ben Shapiro
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Ben Shapiro uncovers the simple strategy used by liberals and their friends in the media: bully the living hell out of conservatives. Play the race card, the class card, the sexism card. Use any and every means at your disposal to demonize your opposition - to shut them up. Then pretend that such bullying is justified because, after all, conservatives are the true bullies and need to be taught a lesson for their intolerance.
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i wish shapiro narrated it
- By michelle on 03-25-17
By: Ben Shapiro
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Liberal Privilege
- Joe Biden and the Democrats' Defense of the Indefensible
- By: Donald J. Trump
- Narrated by: Kimberly Guilfoyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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While everyday Americans strive to make an honest living by working hard, liberals within the swamp have perfected a way of barely working while elevating themselves above all of us. Liberal Privilege will take you behind the scenes of the swamp, just as the nation gears up for the next presidential election. In his second book, number one New York Times best-selling author Donald Trump, Jr., reveals the truth the media has long refused to cover. Hear about the countless liberal scandals, years of entrenched racism in the democrat party, and decades of failed polices.
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Excellent book. AAA+
- By Danny Giraldo on 09-07-20
By: Donald J. Trump
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The American Experiment
- Dialogues on a Dream
- By: David M. Rubenstein
- Narrated by: David M. Rubenstein, Ken Burns, Madeleine Albright, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Exploring the diverse make-up of our country’s DNA through interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning historians, diplomats, music legends, and sports giants, The American Experiment captures the dynamic arc of a young country reinventing itself in real-time. Through these enlightening conversations, the American spirit comes alive, revealing the setbacks, suffering, invention, ingenuity, and social movements that continue to shape our vision of what America is — and what it can be.
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A post graduate experience
- By Barbara or Jerold Gendler on 12-08-21
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Seminal work ruined by a terrible performance.
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UNLISTENABLE
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Seminal work ruined by a terrible performance.
- By R. Kuprov on 04-14-17
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Eye opening
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Noam Chomsky is widely regarded as the most influential thinker of our time, but never before has he devoted a major book to one topic: income inequality. Requiem for the American Dream is not an essay collection but an entire work of some 70,000 words, based on four years of interviews with Chomsky by the editors. It is a book that makes Chomsky's breadth and depth accessible and at the same time gives us his most powerful political ideas with unprecedented, breathtaking directness.
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Documents how US plutocracy oppresses citizens
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Consequences of Capitalism
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How do politics shape our world, our lives, and our perceptions? How much of “common sense” is actually driven by the ruling class’ needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet? Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen, connections between neoliberal “common sense” and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.
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Everyone must read this book.
- By Lydia M. Prado on 02-03-21
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Notes on Resistance
- By: David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky
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In this completely original set of interviews between the legendary duo of Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, the two confront topics such as the pandemic, the wealth gap (made worse because of the pandemic), climate destruction, the increasing power of the corporate owned media, systematic racism, Big Tech, and more.
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It's Chomsky
- By islandtimeonly on 01-25-23
By: David Barsamian, and others
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Media Control
- The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
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Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy - one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky, "propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state", and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States.
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kind of a rip-off
- By el_bobito on 10-07-15
By: Noam Chomsky
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The Myth of American Idealism
- How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World
- By: Noam Chomsky, Nathan J. Robinson
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From one of the world’s most prominent thinkers, an urgent warning of the threat that U.S. power poses to humanity’s future as well as a sharp indictment of both American foreign policy and the national myths that support it.
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Absolutely spot on except . . .
- By anthony pape on 11-09-24
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
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Hegemony or Survival
- America's Quest for Global Dominance
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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. Now the Bush administration is intensifying this process, driving us toward the final frontiers of imperial control, toward a choice between the prerogatives of power and a livable Earth.
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Read and open your mind
- By Rupert on 01-15-04
By: Noam Chomsky
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Illegitimate Authority
- Facing the Challenges of Our Time
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- Unabridged
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A wide-ranging and incisive collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky, addressing the urgent questions of this tumultuous moment. In these informative interviews, conducted for Truthout by C. J. Polychroniou, Noam Chomsky addresses the rapid deterioration of democracy in the United States and rising tensions globally. He examines the crumbling social fabric and fractures of the Biden era, including the halting steps toward a Green New Deal; the illegitimate authority of the Supreme Court, in particular its decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade; and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19.
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Lack of focus
- By Shane Schmauder on 11-27-24
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
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On Palestine
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Operation Protective Edge, Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, left thousands of Palestinians dead and cleared the way for another Israeli land grab. The need to stand in solidarity with Palestinians has never been greater. Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky, two leading voices in the struggle to liberate Palestine, discuss the road ahead for Palestinians and how the international community can pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses against the people of Palestine.
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Excellent Introduction/101 Level Book
- By Anonymous User on 10-24-23
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
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Failed States
- The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Noam Chomsky
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- Unabridged
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The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against "failed states" around the globe. In this much-anticipated sequel to his international best seller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a "failed state", and therefore a danger to its own people and the world.
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Incredible and Unforgettable
- By Todd on 11-28-08
By: Noam Chomsky
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Fateful Triangle
- The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (Updated Edition)
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From its establishment to the present day, Israel has enjoyed a special position in the American roster of international friends. In Fateful Triangle, Noam Chomsky explores the character and historical development of this special relationship.
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Ethical Right to the Point
- By Not-Professor know-it-all on 09-23-15
By: Noam Chomsky
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What Kind of Creatures Are We?
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Noam Chomsky is widely known and deeply admired for being the founder of modern linguistics, one of the founders of the field of cognitive science, and perhaps the most avidly read political theorist and commentator of our time. In these lectures, he presents a lifetime of philosophical reflection on all three of these areas of research to which he has contributed for over half a century.
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yeah good job "John Pruden"
- By heheboi on 01-27-23
By: Noam Chomsky
What listeners say about Understanding Power
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Comatoso
- 08-12-15
Current times demand you get this into your head.
I'm not what you would consider a member of the left, actually I'm a capitalist entrepreneur. But the ideas and concepts in this book are universal, fundamental and are necesary if you wish to understand how the modern world works and the true forces tha shape our lives.ostl6, if you want to make a change for thr better it's necesary to understand what change looks like in the long timeframes we humans need to make real lasting change.
I don't agree with some of the ideas he presents but they are microscopic and of little importance in comparison to the scope of the information in this book, but that's just an opinion.
The best thing is to read this now, almost 30 years later. Chomsky got most of it right as you will learn if you listen to this completely. he basically predicts our current state.
By the way, I have had this book for 10 years in print and never had made the time to read. so yeah, thanks Audible.
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- Scott
- 03-19-15
Chomsky
Fantastic book. Well organized and narrated. Essential for all, especially anarchists. Chomsky is like a political and economic encyclopedia. Don't make the mistake of idolizing him, think for yourself and go organize!
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- RG
- 12-02-16
Understanding Power: good material badly presented
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend it, but with major caveats. Chomsky is a brilliant thinker with an array of facts at his command that goes far beyond "impressive": "staggering" is more like it. He both knows about and has thought about an extraordinary range of issues. And this is part of the difficulty in listening to this book. The material seems to have been organized in a haphazard, or at least bizarre, way: a given chapter might include material on abortion, the Korean War, various conspiracy theories, and Wall Street capitalists. The next chapter might include some of these as well, along with a bunch of others. The material is certainly not organized chronologically, which would have had its own value in seeing the development of Chomsky's thoughts. The chapter titles are of no help here, nor are the "section" titles -- I'm not sure what else to call them -- phrases inserted between chunks of material. They feel like the editor/producer telling me what the next part is "actually" about; this is not a big drawback, but could have been done much better.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Understanding Power?
The book left me with diametrically opposed feelings - the need to take action, to find something that one can do, set next to the feeling of the enormous difficulty of making anything actually happen. These thoughts are echoed over and over by the people -- often serious activists themselves -- who attended these talks and whose questions structure the material. Then again, perhaps that is the result that Chomsky was striving for.
What didn’t you like about Robin Bloodworth’s performance?
The reading itself isn't bad, but there are some choices (which may or may not have been Bloodworth's) that really, and I mean really, get in the way of making this a more enjoyable experience. One is simply how Noam Chomsky's first name is pronounced. I have always heard "Noam" pronounced to rhyme with "Rome" or (what I think is more correct) just as it is spelled, as having almost two syllables: think of saying "Noah" but with an "m" on the end. In the various editors notes that occur through the recording, this is the way Bloodworth says it. All good. But whenever a questioner says "Noam" -- most of the material consists of Chomsky's responses to questions, so this happens a lot --it is pronounced, utterly inexplicably, to rhyme with "Nam" just as in "Vietnam". The first time I thought he was just repeating what the person asking the question actually said. But it's done every single time, and I would bet anything this didn't happen in the actual events. And it's irritating every single time. Such an easy thing to get right, and he knows the right way to say it, so why?? Still, this is less offensive that something it really must have been in Bloodworth's control. Questions are asked, as one would imagine, by both men and women. Bloodworth says at the outset that he will identify the questioners by gender, apparently thinking this makes it easier to follow the material. It doesn't, in my opinion, but it's no big deal. Or not at least till you hear how he does this. When a man asks a question, Bloodworth's voice drops in pitch and becomes rather more harsh, sometimes almost gruff. Even more noticeably, when he's relating a woman's question, his voice gets very distinctly higher in pitch and softer, in some cases actually breathy. He delivers, in other words, the quintessential stereotypes of men's and women's speech and, in my opinion, it verges on outright sexism. It certainly gets in the way of paying attention to the content of the questions. Considering what the book is about, one is only left to wonder what Chomsky would think listening to this.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
This book should not be listened to in one sitting, even if it were short enough to do so as a practical matter. There is too much to think about on each of the many topics covered, not only as to what Chomsky is saying, but how his narrative fits in with (or rather contrasts with) what you've heard and read before. Most of the thinking should be "if I'm so moved and/or disturbed by what I've just heard, what could I or should I do about this?"
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7 people found this helpful
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- steve
- 01-21-17
A must read!
This is a book that everyone needs to read. The sound quality was good as well.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Customer
- 10-15-18
Incredible audiobook!
This audiobook covers so much great materials worth listening to. Just give it a try.
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- Rick in PA
- 11-29-19
terrifying, with a hint of optimism
He makes sense of things that I previously thought to be senseless. Quite informative and useful to dispel propaganda.
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- Austin Peters
- 07-28-16
Powerful and Illuminating.
Essential listening for anyone that feels disaffected by the political system. Completely worth your time.
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- Stefan Damjancevic
- 09-04-17
Beginner Guide for Politics
Brilliant! Educational! Holistic review of systems of power from a disident viewpoint.
Everything that should concern an average person about how the world works with great narration.
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- SERGEY MAGOCHKIN
- 09-19-20
Great
Now i finally understand how it work.
Book have also many new things, about i never hear before.
Narration good.
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- gcrosh
- 03-24-22
The very definition of thought provoking
If you want an introduction into Chomsky's philosophy, this is a great place to start. Lots of subjects covered, lots of ideas to inspire and start thinking about. Not to mention great advice for getting your friends involved in the cause.
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