As an introduction to anarchist theory for someone who knows only the conceptual framework, this was very helpful. And also very frustrating. The vast majority of people have no idea what anarchism is. (Chaos and bombs, right?) This is unfortunate. Anarchism is so beautiful and liberating, and really, truly founded in common sense. The basic premise which Chomsky reiterates many times is that humans should be completely free, to the greatest extent possible. Any structure, relationship, or insti...

This was quite good but far too short. Go read some Bakunin, you'll be better off.

This is the first book of this author that I've read and believe me the only reason that I'm giving it 4 star and not 5 star is that the mid portion of the book involves a description of Spanish social revolution to make his point in support of libertarian socialism and that story's a bit longEvery sentence of the book rings true and especially for the societal framework in which we are currently living. To a lot of readers, it might seem extremely anti-capitalistic book and pro-socialist book b...

Having read half of Daniel Guerin's No Gods, No Masters, last summer (and plan on reading the other half this summer), Chomsky brings much needed articulation as to anarchist theory in post-industrial society such as ours. Most of my previous reading on anarchist thought is limited to the 19th century Russian anarcho-syndicalists Kropotkin and Bakunin. Chomsky's essays, especially his more recent toward the end of the book, provide inspiration as to practical approach in bringing anarchist thoug...

I like this book a lot. I feel as though I don't have much to add, as I agree with the ideas presented about government, power, human nature, and the way society should be structured. A particular highlight was the brief section containing an interview. Chomsky directly answers the sort of questions that come up when explaining leftist and anarchist ideas to people that are acting in good faith. So to see him answer these questions so directly and eloquently was very helpful. I feel like I've pi...

This is a collection of a few articles and book introductions, transcripts of speeches, and interviews. The problem is that this format ends up being pretty repetitive. The introductions in particular, and some of the articles, tend to cover mostly the same ground, and I can't help but feeling that a synthesis of them into a new article would be much more valuable than reading several slightly different articles.The high point was “Containing the Threat of Democracy”, which was one of the longer...

Anarchism is pure and decentralized democracy.This brief and meandering read is not a bad intro in the philosophy of anarchism. To be clear, Chomsky explains that anarchism is not chaos but is in fact the truest form of socialistic democracy where all power is decentralized and any power structure must continually justify its existence or be dismantled. Indeed, anarchism is actually libertarianism. The Ayn Rand/neoliberal brand of libertarianism is a capitalist distortion where power is indeed

Enjoyable read on some of Chomsky's thoughts. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that were based off prior interviews of Chomsky as it answered a few of my questions. Indeed Chomsky: "...every form of authority and domination and hierarchy, every authoritarian structure, has to prove that it's justified--it has no prior justification. For instance, when you stop your five-year-old kid from trying to cross the street, that's an authoritarian situation: it's got to be justified. Well, in that cas...

"So for example, one of the founders of classical liberalism, Wilhelm von Humboldt (who incidentally is very admired by so-called "conservatives" today, because they don't read him), pointed out that if a worker produces a beautiful object on command, you may 'admire what the workers does, but you will despise what he is'" - Chomsky's On Anarchism, Excerpts from Understanding PowerWith a clear summary of his Anarchist beliefs, mixed with some surprisingly amusing interviews, an interesting and c...

Let's be honest here people! Noam Chomsky is the only person alive who speaks publicly about the real (dare I say only) truths about the world order that is and the one that should be. And he does that for the sake of education. He doesn't sell conspiracy theories nor cheap ideologies. You won't find any patronizing propaganda shit here. That's why he doesn't get any publicity. Because he can't be used against his own theories.This particular book is a great way for one to be introduced not only...

I knew Chomsky from Universal Grammar. I studied his work while I was in grad school. It has taken me well over a decade to start to read Chomsky as a political actor. While he is obviously intelligent and well studied in the area, what really detracts for me the veracity of his ideas is his claim that postmodernism is nothing. He states that he has not met someone who could explain to him what Derrida was talking about in 5 minutes. I don't think most people can do that, even people who like De...

Chomsky on Anarchism is a collection of essays and interviews in which Chomsky discusses the broadness and complexity of anarchism and anarchist issues. He mainly refers to anarcho-syndicalism and there are some good parts where he goes over the role that anarchism played in the Spanish Civil War (though to the experienced reader, this has since been well noted by others). I found his comments on Rousseau's Discourse of Equality interesting, as well as Chapter 4 (The Relevance of Anarcho-Syndica...

Noam's a comforting writer with his clear argumentation and judicious use of the word "like", as always. Analysis of how capitalism is actually the opposite of freedom and "libertarianism" as perceived by liberal philosophers and economists was very compelling, as was Noam's mythbusting about the Spanish Civil War: although that section morphs into critical analysis of the work of Gabriel Jackson, not exactly top-of-mind for the book's main subject. Probably better places to read the compiled se...

The interviews were great. I'll be coming back again to the chapter explaining Spanish Civil War after further studies about it.

UPDATE: I re-read this book Monday, February 3, 2014. I don't think my views of the book have changed much since I wrote the review I did below on January 16, 2010. Actually, though, I should say that as for the remark about some of the language being hyperbolic I don't see it that way much anymore. Perhaps it's a matter of me getting older.ORIGINAL REVIEW (January 16, 2010)Noam Chomsky didn't write this book, but it is a collection of interviews conducted with Chomsky, chapter excerpts from boo...

A great selection of Noam Chomsky's writings, talks and interviews on anarchism and his political philosophy in general. I've talked to a number of people who have had some difficulty getting into it, which is understandable as it begins with "Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship", which is in my opinion one of Chomsky's densest writings that I've read. If you find yourself in a similar position, skip through the first part of Objectivity... or go on to the next chapter, because it's really a gre...

This book is a collection of essays and interviews of Chomsky from the 1960's to the early 2000's. These writings substantially cover Chomsky's thoughts on anarchism, socialism, libertarianism, and everything in between. This is a great read.

Well, we know what they think; what they think is very straightforward. They think that working people should have more say in what goes on and they think that unions should have less say. And both assumptions are reasonable based on the information available to them. People make judgments on the basis of the information available. The information available to them is that unions are a weapon against working people. Did you see On the Waterfront, a famous film years ago? Sort of a model, a model...

A nice short introduction to anarchist thought by Noam Chomsky. Some prior knowledge of anarchism and other ideologies seems to be presupposed, though. The first part of the book struck me as a little incoherent and didn't feel like a great way to open. The part about objectivity and liberal scholarship was a nice surprise; where the author looked at the Spanish revolution of 1936 and its portrayal by scholars. Chomsky writes rather accessibly and states his arguments clearly. Decent little book...

This outstanding anthology of Chomsky's anarchist thought is an excellent introduction to modern anarcho-socialism a.k.a. libertarian socialism.