This is another chapter in the thought so Chomsky. I think it gives a good look at the world outside of the US< which is much needed. Too often, the US citizens, and even others around the world, are caught up in what is happening in the US. We need to move away from that with the way things are currently going in the US

It’s easy to forget that Noam Chomsky, so eerily prescient, can’t escape history. So, in the second chapter of Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy (The American Empire Project), “A Tour of the Middle East,” dating from 2013, he predicted a better outcome for Turkey than is now likely since the coup attempt against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

But other than that small misstep, Chomsky delivered great predictions and great insights one after the other. I was as spellbound reading Global Discontents as I would have been reading a taut thriller! Highly, highly recommended to political junkies and laymen alike.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from Henry Holt & Company, Metropolitan Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book it was well written and a joy to read. The authors gives insight to the subject matter that I felt was compelling and would recommend this book to a friend.

If there is only one book you read this year, this book should be the one
Noam Chomsky has been woke his entire career.

On December 5, 2017, Noam Chomsky will come out with his five millionth book. The dude is prolific. It's called Global Discontents.

The book is a collection of interviews with his loyal sympathizer David Barsamian.

I disagree with Noam Chomsky on so many issues. I often can't stand the guy.

Still, I force myself to listen to him because I respect him.

In today's echo chamber of the Internet, too many people simply surround themselves with media that reinforce their point of view. We must force ourselves to open our mind and listen to people we disagree with, even if we feel outraged.

For example, so many of my liberal San Francisco friends blame everything that's wrong in this world on Fox News. However, few have spent much time watching it. If they did, they might learn that many of the programs on Fox are as objective as any other mainstream news source.

Of course, many programs aren't, but the fact that few liberals realize that Fox News isn't always biased shows that they rarely listen to the opposition.

I pay attention to Chomsky for the same reason I watch Michael Moore's movies. I disagree with many of the points but it's important to hear their intelligent (or at least entertaining) arguments.

Noam Chomsky is such a downer

What I dislike most about Chomsky is his pessimism:

He's the ultimate cynic.
A constant party pooper.
A nonstop whinner.
A professional complainer.
A woe-is-the-world grumpy old man.

I suppose I should read Optimism Over Despair. I suppose he wrote that book (actually, it's like this one: a series of interviews) to answer critics like me who say that he's such a perennial downer. Still, the reviews of that book imply that the book should have been called Despair Over Optimism, which aptly sums up Chomsky's political philosophy.

Where Chomsky's right

What I like about Chomsky is that he's not loyal to any political party. Most Republicans probably think he's prejudiced against Republicans.

No. He hates everyone equally.

He's rightly criticized Obama's inability to end the wars in the Middle East, even though he prematurely won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Obama bailout of the banks was horrible. Chomsky is right that money has infected politics too much.

Chomsky's excels at criticism but is short on solutions.

When he does offer solutions, they are often unrealistic. Besides, if Bernie Sanders (or whoever he likes the most) ever came to power, I'm sure he'd start to criticise him.

VERDICT: 7 out 10 stars.

Why did I volunteer to review this book for NetGalley? My mistake. I gave it three stars out of kindness for Noam Chomsky. He's an intellectual. I'm not. He has answers to all of the world's problems. I don't. He sees the world in black and white. I see shades of gray. He's somewhere to the left of a liberal. I'm somewhere to the right of a moderate. It isn't a good match. I fully appreciate his point of view and applaud some of the points he makes. Would the world be a better place with Noam Chomskys in charge? Only if you like chaos. Sorry Liberals, this one didn't do it for me.

Chomsky always seems to be a breath of fresh air for me. Encouraging and inspirational in that he tries to remind us of the importance of paying attention and organizing.
This work, composed of interviews from June 2013- June 2017, discusses perspectives on Latin America and Israel that I felt I have read from him before, but also touches on many other subjects (drone warfare, climate change, the decline of US influence, the 2016 election, a Trump presidency, etc) that I was familiar with but hadn't heard his opinion yet.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone curious or infuriated with the world we live in and thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc through netgalley.

Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian is a collection of ten interviews conducted between 2013 and 2017. Chomsky is sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics." He is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. He holds a joint appointment as Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and laureate professor at the University of Arizona. Barsamian is an Armenian-American radio broadcaster, writer, and the founder and director of Alternative Radio, a Boulder, Colorado-based syndicated weekly public affairs program heard on some 250 radio stations worldwide.

Noam Chomsky is a giant not only in linguistics, but also political science. His name is familiar to most people without introduction and there are few, if any, ambiguities in his positions. During these interviews, Chomsky reinforces his political and foreign affairs views that have been published in his other works. At 88, Chomsky is not backing down from his long-held positions. The final interview in the series takes place in June 2017. Here some new information is given. Chomsky tackles the Trump presidency, North Korea, and Bernie Sanders. Sanders is an interesting discussion of the idea of "revolution" in American politics.

Most of the interviews contain explanations of Chomsky's previous writings and how earlier explanation still apply in today's world. The rise of ISIS is discussed as well as how to deal with North Korea. Both organizations react negatively to outside force and seem to gain more support when external pressure is applied. Perhaps the largest threat Chomsky sees is the threat of climate change and the war against doing anything to stop it. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree but capitalism's monied corporations have a much larger voice through lobbyists and supported government representatives. Chomsky even mentions an educational program that on the surface seems to recognize climate change, but instead uses its resources to debate the subject sowing seeds of doubt in young minds.

Chomsky also looks in at America too. The "Make America Great" slogan is laughable. Chomsky believes what made America great was not the mythical 1950s image that the right has today but the sense of community and helping. Today so much is put on consumerism and individual importance. One merely has to watch traffic at intersections and crosswalks to see this in everyday life. We don't want to build community. Schools lose funding. Arts and libraries suffer. Tax cuts feed the consumerism and corporate profits. Much of the labor is done overseas. Resources are removed from poor countries increasing ill will. The US supports dictators who have raw materials we need. One of the most repressive regimes and whose money actively supports terrorism is our ally, Saudi Arabia. We sow the seeds of hate in the poor both at home and around the world.  

Global Discontents provides a great overview of Chomsky's thinking and his earlier writing.  Chomsky also gives the reader some insight into his personal life.  In the discussion of one quote about Voltaire and crossword puzzles, he explains: "But you can learn things much more easily just by opening the pages of a serious book." Global Discontents is one of those serious books that from which one can learn many things.

I love interviews with Chomsky, always an informative and pleasurable read.