
Simply Chomsky
Great Lives, Book 26
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Narrated by:
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Gill Mills
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By:
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Raphael Salkie
About this listen
"Noam Chomsky’s work has challenged and changed our understanding of the world from his pioneering work in linguistics to his unceasing critique of the world around us. Raphael Salkie’s book, Simply Chomsky, succeeds in bringing these critical issues to the attention of readers in a work at once succinct and illuminating.” (Irene Gendzier, professor emeritus, Dept. of Political Science, Boston University)
Avram Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia in 1928 to Jewish immigrant parents who were both educators. His parents were mainstream liberals, but through relatives, Chomsky was exposed at an early age to socialism and other progressive ideas that shaped his politics. After earning his PhD in theoretical linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 and a fellowship at Harvard University, Chomsky became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His first book, Syntactic Structures, published in 1957 and now considered a classic, not only shook up the study of linguistics, but also had a profound effect on philosophy and psychology and laid the groundwork for the field of cognitive science. In the 1960s, Chomsky took part in protests against the Vietnam War and began writing the articles that initiated his other career as a public dissident and political thinker. Over the course of the next 60 years, Chomsky would continue to be a major voice in both areas, embodying a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, freedom of thought, and human rights.
In Simply Chomsky, Professor Raphael Salkie provides a compact, user-friendly introduction to Noam Chomsky’s political activism and his groundbreaking work in linguistics. Unlike most Chomsky studies, Prof. Salkie not only covers the essentials of Chomsky’s thought and accomplishments, but also explores his most recent concerns - including the climate crisis, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and current geopolitical hotspots - which are often very different from the topics that preoccupied him decades ago.
For students of linguistics, for those interested in US foreign policy, and for anyone concerned about the enormous problems facing the world, Simply Chomsky will be exhilarating and thought-provoking listening. Noam Chomsky has spent his life challenging widely accepted assumptions and beliefs and has made an indelible mark on world affairs and human thought. Simply Chomsky offers a special opportunity to find out more about this remarkable and always engaging contrarian thinker.
©2020 Raphael Salkie (P)2021 Simply CharlyListeners also enjoyed...
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So personal and touching
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The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
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Originally published in 2014, this updated edition of The Revolt of the Public includes an extensive analysis of Donald Trump's improbable rise to the presidency and the electoral triumphs of Brexit and concludes with a speculative look forward, pondering whether the current elite class can bring about a reformation of the democratic process and whether new organizing principles, adapted to a digital world, can arise out of the present political turbulence.
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New forces break things, but can't replace them
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The Essential Chomsky
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a single volume, the seminal writings of the world's leading philosopher, linguist, and critic, published to coincide with his 80th birthday. For the past 40 years Noam Chomsky's writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual and as one of the most original and wide-ranging political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, since the 1960s Chomsky has also secured a place as perhaps the leading dissident voice in the United States.
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Hard to listen to after the first hour
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