Class Warfare


Book Description

Continuing his bestselling interviews with David Barsamian, Chomsky provides a road map to the concentration of corporate power. Amidst a devastating sketch of the ongoing destruction of civil society, Class Warfare unearths a cause for optimism in the ongoing struggle for human freedom. National ads/media.




Keeping the Rabble in Line


Book Description

Barsamian, the founder of Alternative Radio, and Chomsky, allegedly the most quoted author in the modern era, have forged a symbiotic relationship that manages to distill Chomsky's political philosophies and make them accessible. Barsamian's historically grounded, well-informed and probing questions prompt Chomsky to deconstruct concepts of class, media and economics. Chomsky deftly addresses domestic and foreign conundrums including health care, the recent crime bill and NAFTA. While these interviews span a two-year period and end early in 1994, they remain provocative and timely, with Chomsky's insights on Haiti, Northern Ireland and the Middle East proving especially resonant. Ultimately, Rabble serves as a Chomsky primer that is without condescension, and the question-and-answer format shows him at his most concise and adroit. His criticism exposes democracies as business-run societies that render the general population isolated from politics, persuasively suggesting that we are on the verge of a social breakdown. What sets this work apart from other reluctant messiahs who simply intellectualize suffering, is that Barsamian and Chomsky discuss avenues for activism-strengthening unions, following grassroots organizations or simply reading between the lines. Together they act as a lens, enabling the reader to see what has been there, hidden in plain sight. FROM Publisher's Weekly -- Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.




Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting Empire


Book Description

An unprecedented collection from a giant in international politics.




Louder Than Bombs


Book Description

Media activist David Barsamian, dubbed the "Studs Terkel of our generation" by Howard Zinn, has been broadcasting voices of dissent from around the world for over a quarter of a century. Barsamian's radical weekly radio program, "Alternative Radio" (or simply "AR" to his fans), has been a north star in the mass media wilder-ness for people across the country since 1986. Ralph Nader calls it "a ray of light in the media darkness, featuring voices of proposals to strengthen our democracy." Barsamian's latest volume brings together over 20 interviews culled from The Progressive magazine. Here, he talks with luminaries of the left--activists, academics and progressive celebrities--about their areas of expertise, their hopes for the future and the biggest obstacles facing movements for radical change. With his well-informed questions and engaging manner, Barsamian encourages his subjects to reflect on their lives and the world. In turn, they open their hearts and minds to him, offering nuggets of both personal and political insight. Barsamian invites readers to listen in as he converses with some of the best minds of our time, and skillfully weaves their analyses and wisdom into a digest of the world's most pressing issues. The lively and accessible conversations highlight the urgency of globalizing dissent, and remind readers of the power of dialog to inform and inspire. While the people interviewed for this book are a diverse group, they share a common understanding that political change must be fundamental, not cosmetic. All of these thinkers have dedicated their lives to organizing for progressive change. None has lost faith in the capacity of working and poor people to change society, even in the face of the rapidly expanding corporatization of the world. Perhaps this is the book's most inspiring message; there's still reason enough to hope.




Chronicles of Dissent


Book Description

Conducted from 1984 to 1996, these interviews first appeared in the books Chronicles of Dissent, Keeping the Rabble in Line, and Class Warfare, all published by the independent publisher Common Courage Press in Monroe, Maine. This omnibus collection includes a new introduction by David Barsamian, looking back on conversations and engagement with Chomsky’s ideas that now spans decades, as well as a classic essay by Alexander Cockburn on Chomsky that served as the introduction to one of the original volumes.




The Future of History


Book Description

Interviews focusing on the last century take a look at history from the standpoint of the ordinary people of the country.




Imperial Ambitions


Book Description

In this first collection of interviews since the bestselling 9-11, our foremost intellectual activist examines crucial new questions of U.S. foreign policy Timely, urgent, and powerfully elucidating, this important volume of previously unpublished interviews conducted by award-winning radio journalist David Barsamian features Noam Chomsky discussing America's policies in an increasingly unstable world. With his famous insight, lucidity, and redoubtable grasp of history, Chomsky offers his views on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the doctrine of "preemptive" strikes against so-called rogue states, and the prospects of the second Bush administration, warning of the growing threat to international peace posed by the U.S. drive for domination. In his inimitable style, Chomsky also dissects the propaganda system that fabricates a mythic past and airbrushes inconvenient facts out of history. Barsamian, recipient of the ACLU's Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, has conducted more interviews and radio broadcasts with Chomsky than has any other journalist. Enriched by their unique rapport, Imperial Ambitions explores topics Chomsky has never before discussed, among them the 2004 presidential campaign and election, the future of Social Security, and the increasing threat, including devastating weather patterns, of global warming. The result is an illuminating dialogue with one of the leading thinkers of our time—and a startling picture of the turbulent times in which we live.




The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile


Book Description

A skillful interviewer can reveal aspects of a writer's voice in simple yet telling ways. As a novelist, Arundhati Roy is known for her lush language and intricate structure. As a political essayist, her prose is searching and fierce. All of these qualities shine through in the interviews collected by David Barsamian for Globalizing Dissent: Converations with Arundhati Roy. New and devoted readers will find that these exchanges, recorded between 2001 and 2003, add to their appreciation of Roy's previous work. Whether discussing her childhood or the problems of translation in a multilingual society, Roy and Barsamian, the producer and host of Alternative Radio, engage in a lively and accessible manner. Speaking candidly and casually, Roy describes her participation in a demonstration against the Indian dam program as, "absolutely fantastic." She jokes that her Supreme Court charge for "corrupting public morality"--in the case of her novel The God of Small Things--should have been changed to "further corrupting public morality." She calls on her training as an architect to explain what she means by the "physics of power." Like a house of cards, she argues that "unfettered power . . . cannot go berserk like this and expect to hold it all together." Roy has been acclaimed for her courage (Salman Rushdie) and her eloquence (Kirkus Reviews), and her writing has been described as "a banquet for the senses" (Newsweek). She has found a readership among fiction enthusiasts and political activists. Globalizing Dissent captures Roy speaking one-on-one to her audience, revealing her intense and wide-ranging intellect, her very personal voice, and her opinion on momentous political events. Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. She is the recipient of the 2002 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom.




Confronting Empire


Book Description

Brilliant and insightful political analyses of key political events and movements of the second half of the twentieth century.




Consequences of Capitalism


Book Description

Is our "common sense" understanding of the world a reflection of the ruling class’s demands of the larger society? If we are to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet, Chomsky and Waterstone forcefully argue that we must look closely at the everyday tools we use to interpret the world. Consequences of Capitalism make the deep, often unseen connections between common sense and power. In making these linkages we see how the current hegemony keep social justice movements divided and marginalized. More importantly, we see how we overcome these divisions.