Bought in the New Year sale.

This book was drenched by a leaking radiator, it is still readable but water damaged a little.

RELEASE NOTES:

Passing to TGM.

thank you daemonwolf! I look forward to reading my first proper Chomsky (i.e. something more than just articles). Although (from the blurb) the book looks to be saying something I already understand - and am in wholehearted agreement with - , it will still be very interesting, I'm sure...

Well, the good news is that I finally got around to reading this !

The bad news is that it was a little while ago (several months), so my memories of it are not as fresh as they could be...

However, it was basically very useful - and really helped to pull together a lot of things for me and helped clarify my political philosophy. Along the way, I discovered some new histories and was given a coherent perspective through which to view them (alongside those I was already aware of). So, although I was favorably predisposed towards this book, it did really sharpened up my thinking and gave it a focus - made it less naive and wooly I guess! However, whilst it undeniably added weight to pre-existing inclinations, it still also managed to outrage and anger at the same time - i.e. this is no 'preaching to the converted' polemic (like, say, that cartoonish Chomsky-lite, Michael Moore). Chomsky's sense of urgency and cold, controlled fury at the state of things still burns fiercely...

However... on the down side, there are aspects to this book which do remind you that it was published a decade ago - at the post-9/11 height of the Iraq-war controversy - and therefore which date it slightly [so much has happened since!]. But, putting that minor issue aside, the main problem I have is with the *appalling* editing (or rather, complete lack of any editing, it seems!): significant chunks of text are repeated, in near-identical ways, on several occasions; key phrases crop up over and over; notions are explained multiple times - sometimes long after they have been employed in detailed examples and some of the writing itself is very clunky. All of it points to the original book having been thrown together in great haste - which I can perhaps forgive, given the political turmoil going on at the time. However, since this is a slightly later edition (2004), it would have been nice if it could have been revised and tightened up, not simply had a new afterword added. It really takes the shine off what are, essentially, some incredibly important political essays - and that is a real pity. For this reason, I'm docking it a couple of rating points from what would, otherwise, have been a 10/10.

Still, despite that, a potentially life-changing book...

Planning to release this at this evening's 'War'-themed BC Meetup in York...

releasing, as promised...

not picked up at the meet...

left on the shelf...