Hegemony or survival : America's quest for global dominance / Noam Chomsky.

By:

Chomsky, Noam

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: London : Penguin, 2004.Description: 278 p. ; 20 cmISBN:

0141015055
9780141015057

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

320.014 CHO

Contents:

1. Priorities and prospects -- 2. Imperial grand strategy -- 3. The new era of enlightenment -- 4. Dangerous times -- 5. The Iraq connection -- 6. Dilemmas of dominance -- 7. Cauldron of animosities -- 8. Terrorism and justice : some useful truisms -- 9. A passing nightmare? -- Notes -- Index.

Summary: In this book Noam Chomsky offers an analysis of America's pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that 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. 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 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.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	LSAD Library Main Collection	320.014 CHO (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		39002100570028

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

'One of the radical heroes of our age. A towering intellect' Guardian

Hegemony or Survival is Noam Chomsky's essential polemic on American foreign policy.

Noam Chomsky, the world's foremost intellectual activist, presents an irrefutable analysis of America's pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that are sure to follow.

From the funding of repressive regimes to the current 'war on terror', from the toppling of governments opposing its beliefs to the invasion of Iraq, America pursues its global strategy no matter what the cost. With the rigour and insight that have made him our most important unraveller of accredited lies, Noam Chomsky reveals the truth and the true motives behind America's quest for dominance - and seeks also to show how the world may yet step back from the brink.

'A devastating history of American foreign policy since 1945 as well as a dissection of the current "war on terror"' Tim Adams, Observer

'Anybody who thinks about American foreign policy has to read and contemplate Hegemony or Survival ' Independent

'One of the finest minds of the twentieth century' The New Yorker

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In this book Noam Chomsky offers an analysis of America's pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that 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. 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 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.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

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. Excerpted from Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 7, 1928. Son of a Russian emigrant who was a Hebrew scholar, Chomsky was exposed at a young age to the study of language and principles of grammar. During the 1940s, he began developing socialist political leanings through his encounters with the New York Jewish intellectual community.

Chomsky received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. He conducted much of his research at Harvard University. In 1955, he began teaching at MIT, eventually holding the Ferrari P. Ward Chair of Modern Language and Linguistics.

Today Chomsky is highly regarded as both one of America's most prominent linguists and most notorious social critics and political activists. His academic reputation began with the publication of Syntactic Structures in 1957. Within a decade, he became known as an outspoken intellectual opponent of the Vietnam War.

Chomsky has written many books on the links between language, human creativity, and intelligence, including Language and Mind (1967) and Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use (1985). He also has written dozens of political analyses, including Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), Chronicles of Dissent (1992), and The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many (1993).

(Bowker Author Biography)