The Myth of American Idealism

Reviews

“Noam Chomsky has been proved right . . . The record of hypocrisy recounted by Chomsky and Robinson is sobering and convincing. No open-minded reader could absorb this book and continue to believe the pious rationales that U.S. leaders invoke to justify their bare-knuckled actions.” —Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy
 
“Robinson and Chomsky tell a sweeping story of American aggression and amorality in language that is simple, even innocent . . . an incredibly valuable teaching tool for teenagers and young adults as they become politically engaged . . . Chomsky’s gift has always been to reduce geopolitical actions to their most basic relationships of reciprocity and equality; this book is a holistic argument that the United States perpetually operates from a position of domination, violence, and tyranny with other countries . . . An introductory document, something to refer back to long after a first read.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“The most accessible and coherent introduction to Chomsky's ideas. Chomsky's virtues are in abundant evidence here. He writes with absolute clarity and a withering sarcasm . . . Reading Chomsky can be truly eye-opening for those unaware of what he reveals: facts that are rarely discussed in the mainstream American media or in its schools.” —The Irish Times

“Vital . . . Chomsky shows how, time and again, America refuses to accept the same constraints on its conduct that it demands of others, with uniformly disastrous results.” —The Progressive

“Well-written and thoroughly researched . . . The Myth of American Idealism is an ideal update of classic Chomsky for 2024 . . . The warning [Chomsky and Robinson] offer about the danger of US imperialism could not be more dire, and their clarion call to action could not be more clear.” — NACLA.org

“A potent critique of the ideology behind America’s foreign interventions and its status as a global power, and a treatise on how the nation’s hubristic pursuit of 'spreading democracy' threatens not only the delicate balance of global peace, but the already-declining health of our planet. Who it’s for: Chomskyites; policy wonks and casual critics of American recklessness alike.” —The Millions

“Blistering  . . . The authors’ top-versus-bottom analysis becomes strikingly perceptive in a final chapter analyzing how today a global elite benefits from world-killing fossil fuels. This offers rich food for thought.” —Publishers Weekly

“[This book] couldn’t be more timely. An outspoken critic of American empire for most of his life, here Chomsky zeroes in on the myths underlying that imperial expansion, namely the idea that the spread of democracy (no matter the methods) is an unalloyed good. The problem, of course, is that powerful men in small rooms who think themselves both wise and just tend to do the most damage.” —Literary Hub

“Meticulously referenced, thorough research . . . An altogether fascinating book . . . The Myth of American Idealism is in line with everything the 96-year old Chomsky has been advocating all through his political activism. The fact that this book came out while Chomsky was in poor health and prior to his 97th birthday—on 7 December—makes it particularly significant and important.” —Al-Ahram

Praise for Noam Chomsky

“Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . He may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet.” —The New York Times Book Review

“With relentless logic, Chomsky bids us to listen closely to what our leaders tell us—and to discern what they are leaving out . . . Agree with him or not, we lose out by not listening.” —BusinessWeek

“For anyone wanting to find out more about the world we live in . . . there is one simple answer: read Noam Chomsky.” —The New Statesman

“It is possible that, if the United States goes the way of nineteenth-century Britain, Chomsky's interpretation will be the standard among historians a hundred years from now. ” —The New Yorker

“America’s most useful citizen." —The Boston Globe

“Noam Chomsky . . . is a major scholarly resource. Not to have read [him] . . . is to court genuine ignorance.” —The Nation

“America, in [Chomsky's] view, must be reined in, and he makes the case with verve. . . . We should understand it as a plea to end American hypocrisy, to introduce a more consistently principled dimension to American relations with the world, and, instead of assuming American benevolence, to scrutinize critically how the US government actually exercises its still-unmatched power. ” —The New York Review of Books Expand reviews