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Because We Say So

Because We Say So

Summary

Because We Say So is Noam Chomsky's essential counter punch to American hegemony.

In 1962, the eminent statesman Dean Acheson enunciated a principle that has dominated global politics ever since: that no legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its 'power, position, and prestige'. In short, whatever the world may think, U.S. actions are legitimate because they say so.

Spanning the impact of Edward Snowden's whistleblowing and Palestinian-Israeli relations to deeper reflections on political philosophy and the importance of a commons to democracy, Because We Say So takes American imperialism head on.

'Noam Chomsky is one of a small band of individuals fighting a whole industry. And that makes him not only brilliant, but heroic' Arundhati Roy


'The world's greatest public intellectual' Observer

Reviews

  • Publisher's description. From Edward Snowden and Palestinian-Israeli relations to political philosophy and the nature of democracy, Because We Say So offers a cross-section of perspectives on the question of America's ongoing hegemony.
    Penguin

About the author

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is institute professor emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lau­reate professor in the Agnes Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. His work is widely credited with having revolutionized the field of modern linguistics, and he is equally renowned for his incisive writings on global affairs and U.S. foreign policy. The single most cited and published living author, winner of numer­ous international awards, Chomsky has written over one hundred books, including the bestselling political works Hegemony or Survival, Failed States, and Who Rules the World?.
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