Book123

    Free register and download UseNet downloader, then you can FREE Download from UseNet.

    Download without Limit " Noam Chomsky - Hegemony or Survival - America's Quest for Global Dominance " from UseNet for FREE!

More

This is not the 304 page edition currently available from Amazon. Please see www.hegemonyorsurvival.net or www.americanempireproject.com for expanded

ednotes and an e-book with additional background, discussion, and sources.

I doubt this book would have garnered so much attention had not Hugo Chavez waived it front of the UN assembly decrying US imperial ambitions. The book quickly soared to the top of most bestselling lists, and briefly topped Amazon book sales. I well imagine Noam Chomsky had to crack a smile, as it turns out that people do take notice when someone questions American authority, and this is what this book is all about.

In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose 9-11 was a bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy-an "imperial grand strategy"-in which the United States has attempted to "maintain its hegemony through the threat or use of military force." Such an analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 condemned Washington for "unlawful use of force" ("international terrorism, in lay terms" Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua. Claiming that the U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its "contempt for international law," Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy.

& 8220;

I have read a fair amount of modern history, and was only vaguely aware (like most Americans) of the many of Chomsky's facts and assertions. Some were so startling that I felt I needed to verify. After researching four and finding them unassailable, I stopped trying to fault the facts. The indictment of US foreign policy that Chomsky devolves from these facts is at such variance with our view of ourselves that one is inclined to look for an explanation. If the facts are not false, then perhaps the interpretation is the problem, so I examined the logic by re-reading the book with careful attention to the relationship between facts and conclusion. There are weaknesses in some places where an argument depends on "respected commentator" or some other unsupported assertion. However, even if one throws out all of the marginal cases, he is still left with a great deal for which to account--a paradigm changer for the honest and open minded, and something to be reviled and suppressed for those determined to believe that Americans are the good guys who go around the world altruistically stamping out evil. Chomsky stops short of a monolithic conspiracy theory, but the pattern of behavior of the US over the last 60 years that is painted by this book is remarkably consistent and disturbing.

& 8221;

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

& 8220;

Buy Book at Lowest Price on Amazon

& 8221;

password = & 119;& 119;& 119;& 46;& 65;& 118;& 97;& 120;& 72;& 111;& 109;& 101;& 46;& 114;& 117;

Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123