How the World Works

An eye-opening introduction to the timelessly relevant ideas of Noam Chomsky, this book is a penetrating, illusion-shattering look at how things really work

"Arguably the most important intellectual alive." —The New York Times

Offering something not found anywhere else, How the World Works is pure Chomsky, but tailored for those who are new to his work. The book is made up of meticulously edited speeches and interviews, and every dazzling idea and penetrating insight is kept intact and delivered in clear, accessible, reader-friendly prose.

Originally published as a series of short works—What Uncle Sam Really Wants; The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many; Secrets, Lies and Democracy; and The Common Good—these volumes together sold nearly 600,000 copies. Now collected into one comprehensive anthology, How the World Works reveals how Chomsky’s then-revolutionary ideas have only become more relevant as time has gone by.

From the concept that extreme wealth and democracy cannot exist side-by-side; to how the assumptions of mainstream media purposefully limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion; to the decline of unions and workers’ rights thanks to corporations and their unconstrained quest for profit, Chomsky’s prescient theories of the future—not only the future of the United States, but of the world—make it very clear that our society is paying the price now for not heeding him then.

Noam Chomsky is the most famous social critic in the world. Lionized abroad, his ideas are marginalized here—except in linguistics, where they’ve revolutionized the field. According to MIT and the Chicago Tribune, he’s the most cited author in the last two decades and is the eighth most cited source of all time (only surpasssed by Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, and Freud). Born in 1928, he’s taught at MIT for more than 50 years.

David Barsamian is an Armenian-American radio broadcaster, writer, and the founder and director of Alternative Radio, a Colorado-based syndicated weekly public affairs program.

Arthur Naiman wrote, co-authored, edited, designed and/or published more than thirty nonfiction books. In each of those categories, his books have sold over a million copies.