Hegemony or Survival : America's Quest for Global Dominance

One of Chomsky's special talent remains his ability to undermine comforting platitudes--such as the idea that we Westerners have become more "humanitarian" over the last few decades or that we have been making steady moral progress. As with Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival is relentlessly damning of the American political and economic elite and highly sceptical of the idea that virtue is to be found there. But if you're looking for a more balanced and hopeful examination of America's excursion into modern empire building and the problems it poses try Michael Ignatieff's Empire Lite. --Larry Brown

Chomsky tends to write his books as updates to previous books, therefore those familiar with his past works will inevitably find themselves being exposed to facts theyive already heard. However, as these facts are so numerous and noteworthy, only the most retentive brain will mind hearing them for a second or third time. And for newcomers what this man has to say about Americais intentions for the world will require two or three reads to soak in, and a further session of research to determine whether his meticulously documented facts could possibly all be true.

The book itself does exactly what Amazonis synopsis says, so those in the know will click on add to basket straight away. For those unfamiliar with Chomsky, Iill say only this: if you still question whether the US administration is willing to sacrifice innocent lives for oil, this book provides an intelligent answer.


Uncomfortable truth - US survival or survival of the planet?   January 30, 2004
Simon, York (York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful

This book is only indirectly about corporations. It is about the United States of America and the neo-conservative political project to shape the world according to the preferences of the US military-industrial complex that is hand in glove with the political elite that runs the world's only hyper-power.

Chomsky produces a clear and eminently well documented rationale for his critique of US ambition. Those who denigrate Chomsky do so because the truth is too uncomfortable. They may dismiss his writing as a rant, but that is because they choose to ignore the overwhelming use of insider statements, Pentagon reports, CIA findings, White House utterances, and all the rest of the horse's mouth. Chomsky merely puts it all together in a couple of hundred terrifying pages. Reading Chomsky it becomes harder for us to miss the true intentions behind the US quest for dominance. And of course it is also a quest for survival, because without its overwhelming military control (the US spends as much on defence as the next dozen or so countries combined, about 37% of the world total) the US would suffer a dramatic decline since its population is too small and its trade balance too severe, its social tensions too great, for it to realistically compete with anyone else except through employing its overwhelming military and technological superiority in order to exert control. That this military power is also employed to ensure economic compliance is part of what makes US policy so frightening. Chomsky warns of the risks of nuclear proliferation as a consequence of the US commitment to Balistic Missiles Defence, a project which despite its name is about offensive capability. In this book he barely touches on the environmental impact of the neo-conservative preferences, but anybody who cares about Blair's support for Bush, about the risks of nuclear war, about terrorism and about the future of our planet would do well to read this magnificent book.


STUBBORN FACTS   February 5, 2004
25 out of 31 found this review helpful

Chomsky again presents a coherent, fact based account of US foriegn policy and its catastrophic affect on third world nations who are the main victims who have to endure its terror. As time passes the list of affected peoples grows. What is saddening is that policy is not changing and the more involved you become in the debate of the conflict between human rights & democracy and US Imperial hegemonic dominance what becomes apparent is that there isn't really anyone who engages in debate with Chomsky. That is not to say there is no-one who opposes Chomsky but instead of engaged debate rely on the tried and tested traditional method of slander, mis-information and character assasination hoping that it will disuade people to read his books.

Chomsky is an heroic intellectual who is bent on exposing Imperial deceit and injustice and promote the values of Democratic Freedom and Justice for all human beings that as a Jewish American he so values. There is no hidden agenda with Chomsky, he finds the mass murder of innocent civilians unjustifiable whether they be hundreds of thousands in a East Timor, tens of thousand Palestinians in a ghetto in Gaza, a few hundred Israelis in Tel Aviv or three thousand office workers in the twin towers.

Chomsky's main message is - How do we stop Terrorism ?

For Chomsky if the US and UK governments were to STOP participating in Terrorism they will reduce terrorism by a very substantial amount ? The logical precision of a philosopher.


Chomsky's most readable and urgent book in years   September 21, 2006
Mr. Tristan Martin (Cambridge, UK)
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

If you are reading this, then you are probably already familiar with Professor Noam Chomsky's writings, so rather than re-cap his work, I will offer only a few salient points.

This is Chomsky's most well written book in years. It is a small irony that a professor of linguistics has often authored books that can be quite badly written - Year 501: The Conquest Continues, being a prime offender. This isn't dumbed-down Chomsky but rather this book feels as if Chomsky has taken much more care in making this book accessible to a wider audience and not just his hardcore fanbase.

Secondly, as usual with Chomsky's books, he recapitulates his own work quite frequently (to phrase it generously). Hegemony or Survival is no different. About half of this book is fresh material and half is previously published.

However, this book is most definitely worth purchasing, even if you have Deterring Democracy (probably his best) because it covers the years 1993 - 2003 (approx.) with his usual insightful prose. Though the book covers outside of this timeframe, looking at the Cuban Missile Crisis or Israel and Palestine, for example, Chomsky is at his best in this book when he is being contemporary. The parallels he draws betwixt Clinton's bombing of the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory and Al Qaeda's bombing of the Twin Towers is fiercely provocative and yet thoroughly underpinned by diligent research and logic.


Chomsky for President!   August 23, 2004
30 out of 46 found this review helpful

Do yourself a favour: buy this book, read it and tell all your friends to. Chomsky tackles this complex and controversial subject matter in an extremely clear and easy to follow manner. This book made me want to scream, shout, cry and bomb the White House, not necessarily in that order. His analysis of America's foreign policy and ambition for global dominance proves that the world's greediest, cruellest, most powerful terrorist organisation is the government of George W. Bush.