American Power and the New Mandarins by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn (Introduction)

From the Publisher

Back in print, the seminal work by "arguably the most important intellectual alive" (The New York Times).

American Power and the New Mandarins is Noam Chomsky's first political book, widely considered to be among the most cogent and powerful statements against the American war in Vietnam. Long out of print, this collection of early, seminal essays helped to establish Chomsky as a leading critic of United States foreign policy. These pages mount a scathing critique of the contradictions of the war, and an indictment of the mainstream, liberal intellectuals—the "new mandarins"—who furnished what Chomsky argued was the

necessary ideological cover for the horrors visited on the Vietnamese people.

As America's foreign entanglements deepen by the month, Chomsky's lucid analysis is a sobering reminder of the perils of imperial diplomacy. With a new foreword by Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, American Power and the New Mandarins is a renewed call for independent analysis of America's role in the world.

Author Biography: Noam Chomsky is professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A world-renowned linguist and political activist, he is the author of numerous books, including Manufacturing Consent, The Fateful Triangle, Deterring Democracy, and Reflections on Language.

Publishers Weekly

Whether assessing U.S. policy in the Middle East (Fateful Triangle) or analyzing the events of September 11 (9-11), linguist, intellectual giant and moral authority Chomsky has made a brilliant career out of telling his fellow Americans things they didn't want to hear. And it all began with this collection of provocative essays (first published by Pantheon in 1969), each advancing a cogent, rigorous argument for why we shouldn't have been in Vietnam. In his opening piece, "Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship," Chomsky establishes the premise that U.S. presence in Southeast Asia was little more than updated imperialism; that theory informs much of the writing that follows. In "The Logic of Withdrawal," Chomsky methodically debunks the accepted reasons for U.S. intervention in a foreign civil war, and in "On Resistance," he restates his case even more bluntly, writing that "no one has appointed us judge and executioner for Vietnam or anywhere else." If it merely recalled the heady debates of a generation past, this volume would have been well worth reprinting. But at this moment in history, as America teeters on the brink of another war, Chomsky's ruminations about our role on the world stage take on renewed relevance. (Nov. 14) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

• Forewords & Introductions

Forewords & Introductions