The Chomsky Trilogy

Secrets, Lies & Democracy/The Prosperous Few & the Restless Many/What Uncle Sam Really Wants

By Noam Chomsky

1995

First Published

3.92

Average Rating

333

Number of Pages

10H10M

Audio Length

The Real Story Series is based on a simple idea—political books don't have to be boring. Short, well-written and to the point, Real Story books are meant to be read. In these fact-filled, illusion-shattering masterpieces, the man the "New York Times" called "arguably the most important intellectual alive," explains why "what the public wants is called 'politically unrealistic.' Translated into English, that means power and privilege are opposed to it." Normally somewhat difficult to read, Chomsky is at his most accessible in his speeches and interviews, and that's what these books are compiled from. Here are some examples of what he has to tell In 1970, about 90% of international capital was used for trade and long-term investment-more or less productive things—and 10% reserved for speculation. By 1990, those figures were reversed. Haiti, a starving island, is exporting food to the U.S.—about 35 times as much under Clinton as under Bush. The gap between how much income is held by the richest and poorest 20? has increased dramatically over the past 30 years—about double for rich vs. poor countries and far more for rich vs. poor people.

Avg Rating

3.92

Number of Ratings

104

5 STARS

31%

4 STARS

43%

3 STARS

17%

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Noam Chomsky

Author · 139 books

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar, considered to be one of the most significant contributions to the field of linguistics made in the 20th century. He also helped spark the cognitive revolution in psychology through his review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior, in which he challenged the behaviorist approach to the study of behavior and language dominant in the 1950s. His naturalistic approach to the study of language has affected the philosophy of language and mind. He is also credited with the establishment of the Chomsky hierarchy, a classification of formal languages in terms of their generative power. Beginning with his critique of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Chomsky has become more widely known for his media criticism and political activism, and for his criticism of the foreign policy of the United States and other governments. According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980–1992 time period, and was the eighth-most cited scholar in any time period.