Optimism Over Despair

by Noam Chomsky, C.J. Polychroniou

An essential overview of the problems of our world today -- and how we should prepare for tomorrow -- from the world's leading public intellectualWe have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure that the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp the opportunities that surely exist, and maybe help make the world a better place. Not much of a choice.From peerless political thinker Noam Chomsky comes an exploration of rising neoliberalism, the refugee crisis in Europe, the Black Lives Matter movement, the dysfunctional US electoral system, and the prospects and challenges of building a movement for radical change.Including four up-to-the-minute interviews on the 2016 American election campaign and global resistance to Trump, this Penguin Special is a concise introduction to Chomsky's ideas and his take on the state of the world today.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Economics, History, Sociology, Unfinished

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Zacharycbruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I did not read every word written in the book, but perhaps 60-70% of it, and I have no real burning desire to read any more.

There seems to be two kinds of Chomsky books; well constructed, meticulously researched and coherent books that focus on a particular topic/issue, and then there is the type that we find here.
This is a collection of transcribed interviews, and it is hard to recommend it. It lacks the focus of many of his other books, and without references/foot notes it leaves the reader to trust Chomsky's research and the conclusions he draws. No doubt your trust would not be misled, but it gives you no starting points should you want to do further research or reading. Elsewhere Chomsky's coverage of issues is incredibly comprehensive. Here you get small, bite sized pieces that aren't quite enough to satisfy. Without greater context, background, history etc. and the room to explore the issues the book isn't nearly as engaging or educational as other works.

If you have read Chomsky before and are looking for a quick reminder/overview of some of his arguments or ideas, or you find that some of the questions posed by the interviewer are particularly interesting I suppose the book has some value. I don't think there is much truly new content here, and at times the interviewer can descend into a sort of smug self congratulatory tone; look at how insightful and enlightened we all are, and why aren't you keeping up?

Unfortunately I found it overall a disappointing experience, and I am enjoying his "Who Rules the World" much, much more.
It feels almost sacrilegious to give the book it's first two-star review, and it's not that I disagree with the views Chomsky puts forward, and indeed there was some interesting content. I just don't really see a place for this on my shelf. The time and money spent on this would be much better spent reading one of his other books and I highly recommend that you seek another one out.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

The interviews in this book predate the first Trump presidency and reading them in the days ahead of a second one while Israel's aggression on Gaza and the West Bank is still ongoing was something of a weird experience. I picked this one up because of the title and I can't say it did much to for my optimism of the will if I'm entirely honest.

[Ritinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

O abjecto neoliberalismo e os malefícios dos EUA dentro de portas e no mundo expostos pelo Sr. Chomsky, pessoa que usa de uma lucidez notável num tempo de alucinação colectiva/cegueira voluntária.

[Harun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief debate with valuable insights on the contemporary issues of global politics and its declining hegemon. With a clear resume: "We have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure that the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp the opportunities that surely exist, and maybe help make the world a better place."

[Amr Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

لازم هتستفيد من اي معلومة جديدة كل ما تقرأ لتشومسكي، اينعم في معلومات كتيرة مكررة وده عيب ان كل حوار ليه او لقاء او مقال بيتجمع في كتاب
هنا تكلم عن السلاح النووي وقضية المناخ او الاحتباس الحراري والوقود الأحفوري في امريكا وتجاهل الحزب الجمهوري لتلك المشكلة وزيادتها وأيضا تكلم عن انتخاب ترامب وعن الناتو وأزمة اوكرانيا وخطة مارشال وشروطها ومواضيع أخري

المعلومة الجديدة دعم لأمريكا لانقلاب في استراليا وإيطاليا وتسبب أمريكا في قتل مئة ألف من كوريا قبل حتي الحرب الكورية والالاف من اليونانيين في عملية مواجهة التمرد التي نظمتها وأدارتها امريكا وان مستشار الامن القومي لترامب مايكل فلين متعصب المصاب برهاب الاسلام والذي يعتبر السلام ليس دينا وإنما أيديولوجية سياسية مثل الفاشية وطبعا ده متوقع من ترامب ابن المحروقة

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chomsky is king. Chomsky will always be king.

[Joe M · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a quick, insightful overview on the current state of US and world affairs, you could do worse than picking up this collection of recent interviews with Noam Chomsky, which covers a wide range of topics from the war on terror, immigration, capitalism, climate change, the refugee crisis, national healthcare, and much more. There's some repetition since some interviews and questions lead back to to overarching points, but they're all the kind that definitely bare repeating. This collection is also easily digested in a few sittings, or perfect for dipping in and out of for valuable perspectives on the subjects and issues that interest you the most.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a series of transcribed interviews than a 'book'. Each chapter is an interview, they seemed to occur mostly around the 2016 time of the US Election, and consequently focus on that. The discussions range across the legacy of Obama, the election and expectations of a Trump presidency, what the future holds for US (and global) democracy and more. Really good insights and arguments (as you'd expect) -- but, the interview style does mean that some subjects are covered multiple times and can get a tad repetitive, and my real disappointment is just that the format doesn't allow a really detailed work on any of the subjects and you're often left wishing they'd talk about something a bit more than they do. I must try and find a Chomsky book that isn't just interviews...

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In one of the first modern works of political theory, David Hume observed that ‘power is in the hands of the governed’ if they only choose to exercise it, and ultimately, it is ‘by opinion only’ – that is, by doctrine and propaganda – that they are prevented from exercising power. That can be overcome, and often has been.” JFK “effectively shifted the mission of the Latin American military from ‘hemispheric defense’ to ‘internal security’, a euphemism for war against the population.” Declassified STRATCOM documents state, “That the US may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked, should be a part of the national persona we project. It is beneficial for our strategic posture if some elements may appear to be potentially out of control.” Noam says this is “Nixon’s Madman theory, except this time clearly articulated in an internal planning document.” “President Obama’s drone campaign is by far the most vast and destructive terrorist operation now under way.”

“It’s hard to find a national liberation movement that hasn’t used terror.” One of those was “George Washington’s Army, so much so that a large part of the population fled in fear of his terror – not to speak of the indigenous community, for whom he was “the town destroyer”. “The United States is a settler-colonial state, which murdered the indigenous population and consigned the remnants to “reservations” while conquering half of Mexico, then expanding beyond.” “Quite often democracy is considered a threat - for good reasons when we look at public opinion. World opinion regards the United States as the greatest threat to world peace by a large margin.” The U.S. has yet to explain why Nelson “Mandela himself remained on the US terrorist list until 2008. “It is notable that the one country of the global South that developed was Japan, the one country that was not colonized. The correlation is not accidental.” The conservative American Enterprise Institute has called the present Republican Party, “a radical insurgency.” Nick Turse says that U.S. elite forces were “deployed to a record-shattering 147 countries in 2015.” Four Latin American countries offered to take Snowden, while not one European country would risk U.S. anger. “Business Week (February 12, 1949), recognized that social spending could have the same “pump-priming” effect as military spending but welfare and public spending redistributes income. Elites can’t have that as a side effect and so we have instead permanent war and massive income inequality – by design.

“The United States had supported Mussolini’s fascism from the 1922 takeover through the 1930’s.” The Marshall Plan was contingent on exclusion of communists and the anti-fascist resistance. After WWII, the US destroys the anti-fascist resistance in Greece, Italy, France, Germany, Latin America and Asia. And it also takes on “radical nationalism” in Guatemala and Bolivia. “Like Britain before it, the United States has tended to support radical Islam and to oppose secular nationalism.” “Large-scale CIA interference in Italian politics has been public knowledge since the congressional Pike Report was leaked in 1976.” “7 to 8 percent of France’s population is Muslim, whereas 70 percent of France’s prison population is Muslim.” The refugee problem in Europe is “a human catastrophe that is in substantial part because of Western crimes.” Lebanon is now 25 percent Syrian (refugees). “It is enough to recall that for hundreds of years Europe was devoted to mutual slaughter on a horrific scale.” “Zionism has been a settler-colonial movement.”

“It is more appropriate, I think, to ask whether the Bolsheviks had any other option for defending their power. By adopting the means they chose, they destroyed the achievements of the popular revolution. Were there alternatives?” “There was hardly a society in the world more remote from socialism than Soviet Russia, which is presented as the leading ‘socialist’ state. If that’s what ‘socialism’ is, then we ought to oppose it.” “I would put the abandonment of socialism under Lenin and Trotsky.” Noam in discussing post-Revolutionary Russia refers to it as “a kind of tyrannical state capitalism.” Noam believes Stalin’s labor camps would never have happened under Lenin or Trotsky. Countering the terrible Great Leap famine numbers, Noam notes Amartya Sen’s findings that “from independence until 1979, when the Deng reforms began, Chinese programs on rural health and development saved the lives of 100 million people in comparison to India during the same years.”

Because the Republican Party cannot “appeal to the public on its actual policies (dedication to the welfare of the rich)” it courts Christian fanaticism, “giving them substantial influence on policy.” “Today’s red states are solidly based in the Confederacy.” “Trump’s appeal seems based largely on perceptions of loss and fear.” “If you had a real capitalist economy in place, capitalists who made risky investments would be wiped out”; instead the rich and powerful want a nanny state that will bail them out. “The brutal reality of capitalism - socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.” The US “constitutional system had to be set up to prevent democracy.” “Democrats have to face the fact that for forty years they have pretty much abandoned whatever commitment they had to working people. It’s quite shocking that Democrats have drifted so far from their modern New Deal origins that workers are now voting for their class enemy, not for the party of FDR.” “Sanders is an honest and committed New Dealer. The fact that he’s considered ‘radical’ tells us how far the elite political spectrum has shifted to the right during the neoliberal period.”

Walter Hixson has documented that for five hundred years fighting wars with almost no respite, the U.S. has been the “ultimately militarized most nation in world history.” “40 percent of the population sees it (climate change) as no problem because Christ will return in a few decades.” Wilhelm von Humboldt, the founder of the university system advocated developing one’s ability to “inquire and create”. The American Dream came at the expense of genocide/forced dispossession and the “most vicious form of slavery that has yet existed.” “In contemporary newspeak, the word ‘jobs’ is a euphemism for the unpronounceable seven-letter word ‘pr—ts’.” Climate “migrants should have the right to move to the countries from which all these greenhouse gases are coming.” “There is evidence of CIA involvement in a virtual coup that overturned the Whitlam Labor government in Australia in 1975.” For Noam, moving ahead now we need “a far-reaching critique of the capitalist model of human and resource exploitation; even apart from its ignoring of externalities, the latter is a virtual death knell for the species.” “The task for social policy is to design the ways we live and the institutional and cultural structure of our lives so as to favor the benign and suppress the harsh and destructive aspects of our fundamental nature.”

[Ahmed Fathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب في مكتبتي منذ فترة لكن الأحداث الحالية جعلتني أتناوله -حتى وإن كان تشومسكي هنا لايتوقع نهاية العالم بالكورونا ولكن بكارثة مناخية أو حرب نووية- وأشرع في قرأته فإن تجاوزنا الكورونا تنتظرنا هذه المصائب ، أنا من محبي تشومسكي وأتابع كل حوار صحفي أو مقال جديد له ، الرجل مثقف موسوعي ،قادر على أن يدهشك بأرائه ،من الممكن أن يحدثك عن رئاسة ترامب والجديد في ميكانيكا الكم والمستجد في الألسانيات والأنثروبولوجي تماما بنفس درجة العلم وعمق التحليل ، أظن أن تشومسكي هو أهم مثقف على الأرض الآن، الجميع ينتظر رائيه في أي جديد ،حتى وإن كان من اليسار فاليمين الأمريكي يهتم بأراء تشومسكي بنفس الدرجة ،فالكل يجمع على أهمية ما يقول هذا الرجل.

[Udit Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all I need to admit that I regret the fact that I didn't get hold of any of his works before this. This book is actually a collection of his interviews. The insights are powerful but yet I feel it was left in between. The fact that I didn't get complete answers frustrated me throughout the reading. Since I am done with this I look forward to his other works which are detailed in nature.

Please feel free to comment if you have suggestions with regards to other books of noam chomsky. I am keenly looking forward to read him more.

[Yani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this book is poorly named... The choice for optimism described here looks more like an existential truth, as in, suicide is always an option, so at least trying to do something is better than doing nothing. The rest of the book is grim, dark and confronting. I think this book would have profited from some more side notes explaining where some of his insights com from, or at least a good recommendation on his facts. I'm certainly not denying what Chomsky sais as untruth, but to a general audience they probably will come over as conspiracy theory-like. Nevertheless I was captivated and moved (mostly angered and felt an urge to act), so I would definitely recommend this book!

[Ivar Vangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

En av de beste og mest lettfattelige sammenfatninga av Chomsky hittil. Det er imponerende hvor skarp og presis han er til å følge med nåtidige hendelser, i en alder av nærmere 90 år. Analysene hans av Trump og forvandlingen av Det republikanske parti fra et politisk parti til en regelrett radikal sekt, er også mer treffende enn mye annet der ute. Ettersom den sviktende stemmen hans gjør at det blir stadig mer krevende å høre hva han sier i intervjuer osv., er det behagelig at noen orker å lage bøker som dette, basert på dem.

Ankepunktene mine mot boka er at enkelte av svarene på noen av spørsmålene han blir stilt, med fordel kunne blitt besvart mer utfyllende. Enkelte ganger blir man sittende igjen med like mange spørsmål som før man leste. Dette kunne ofte blitt ordnet med en liten ekstra setning. Ellers er det dessuten lite "optimism" å spore i denne boka - til og med mindre enn hva tilfellet pleier å være med Chomsky. Det gjør at leseropplevelsen blir mer nedslående enn den kanskje burde vært.

Like fullt er dette en kjempegod bok. Absolutt å anbefale - ikke minst dersom man kjenner folk som "har lyst til å bli mer oppdatert på politikk". Sånn sett er det sjelden Chomsky slår feil.

[Omar Kassem · Rating 4 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب هو مجموعة من الحوارات مع المفكر العالمي المعروف والبارز " نعوم تشومسكي " على مدى اربع سنوات .. بدءاً من 2013 وحتى 2017 ، تضمن هذه الحوارات نتائج الرأسمالية والعولمة ، وصعود الليبرالية الجديدة و أزمة اللاجئين .

ببساطة يمكننا اعتبار تشومسكي ضمير اميركا الحي لاكثر من نصف قرن .. والمفكر الاشهر الذي يتحدث باستمرار عن العدوانية الاميركية والمدافع الاساسي عن حقوق الضعفاء المظلومين .

الجميل في هذه الحوارات وبآراء نعوم بأنها تقوم على اعتبارات أخلاقية عميقة عن الحرية والديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان والكرامة الإنسانية

لا يزال تشومسكي يرى أن اليأس ليس خيارا .. لا يهم كيف يبدو العالم في وضعه الحالي الرهيب .. لكن مقاومة الظلم والاستغلال لم تكن ابدا مشاريع عقيمة حتى في اوقات اكثر صعوبة من وقتنا الحالي .

في النهاية يجب الإيمان بين البقية بقدرة الانسانية على تأمين مقاومة عنيدة لقوى الظلام السياسي والوصول في النهاية إلى تغيير مسار التاريخ نحو الأفضل .

[Marcus Vinicius · Rating 5 out of 5]

The State of the World
The book comprises a series of interviews gave by Noam Chomsky over the course of the last four years (from late 2013 to early 2017) and originally published in Truthout. The interviews were organized in three groups. The first deals with capitalism and its social’s consequences. The second discusses american foreign policy and its intersections with the muslin word, Russia and climate change. The third examines Chomsky’s comprehension of anarchism, communism and democracy. The book gives a glimpse of Chomsky’s ideas and considers many contemporary facts, with special attention to the Trump election. It’s an enlightening exposition of Chomsky’s political views.

[Tobias · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly enjoyable overview of some of Chomsky's thoughts on foreign policy, domestic U.S. politics, the climate crisis, nuclear war, and so on. The book is framed through conversations between C.J. Polychroniou and Chomsky himself. Some of his responses are lengthy and detailed, but some quite frankly miss the mark. They are sometimes too short or do not seriously address the question at all.

Overall though, "Optimism over Despair" is a highly straightforward collection of Chomsky's thoughts.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from Chomsky, this book is set out in the usual question and answer format, which I find more engaging and it maintains my interest in the subject matter, and it also makes for very easy reading. Written in early 2017 it covers the US election and the subsequent election of tRump into the White House.

Some of the insightful chapters included:

Global struggles for Dominance ISIS, NATO and Russia (somewhat prevelant now)
America in the Trump Era
The Republican base Is "Out of Control"
Socialisim for the rich, Capitalism for the poor
The US Health system is an International Scandal
Is the United States ready for Socialism
And Finally "Why I choose Optimism over Despair"

[Pedro Fernandes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of interviews with Chomsky where he describes how the American politics system transformed in the last century, describing their interventions across the world and the evolution of the two main parties culminating in how we got to Donald getting elected in 2016. It describes a lot of different matters and I’ll probably will read more of his works in the future.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several times in this collection of interviews, Chomsky reiterates a point that, I think, he gets in one form from Confucius. Essentially, it's the notion that the wise man recognizes when he is utterly defeated, but fights anyway. That, Chomsky asserts, is our choice. "Not much of a choice," he adds, and it's there, after articulating this point, that the interview stops.

I honestly don't know how else to look at the world as we enter 2019. Early barometers are not encouraging. When this book was published, the UN hadn't yet released its devastating report on climate change, but activists like Chomsky, and environmental activists overall, were hardly shocked by it, I'm sure. Currently we're days into a shutdown so Trump can get his stupid wall, and the establishment GOP, like Lindsey Graham, is bending itself into knots trying to argue asinine points like "the wall is really a metaphor," and "we're not asking Mexico to pay for it; we're asking the American people to pay for it." And the stock market is still drunk/hung over.

But Chomsky's calm, wide ranging take on affairs gives, if not hope, at least the potential for it. He reminds us over and over again that change always takes place through popular movements, and that the population actually makes a lot of sense on matters related to climate change, financial regulation, education and a host of others. Institutions of power do not want democracy because it threatens their power; recognizing this, and pointing out the discrepancy where it emerges, is child's play compared to the steps that will have to be taken to save the planet, but it's important work. He's been doing it for over half a century. We need to as well.

[Mirjam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het boek bestaat uit hoofdstukken waarin CJ Polychroniou Noam Chomsky ondervraagt over mondiale politiek, van de groeiende ongelijkheid, de oorlogen die de VS steeds weer aangaat, klimaatverandering en de dreiging van een nucleaire oorlog.
Wat zo gaaf is aan Chomsky is dat hij in 1928 is geboren en vanaf de jaren '30 de wereld heeft zien veranderen. Hij heeft dus veel van de ontwikkelingen die hij bespreekt, zelf meegemaakt. Al is het maar door het nieuws kritisch te volgen.
Het is fijn dat deze best ingewikkelde onderwerpen zijn opgedeeld in hoofdstukken van ca. 10 pagina's en dat de hoofdstukken weer zijn opgedeeld in vraag-en-antwoord. Zelfs met die hapklare brokken heb ik er vier weken over gedaan om het uit te lezen.
Er zijn twee minpunten aan dit boek: eerste is dat de vragen die Polychroniou stelt, nogal richting geven aan het antwoord. De achterliggende reden is dat Polychroniou enorm goed op de hoogte is van het werk van Chomsky. Tweede nadeel is dat 95% van het boek gaat over de despair. Het laatste hoofdstuk heet: Why I choose optimism over despair. En de uitwerking van het antwoord is wel heel kort.
'We have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure that the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp the opportunities that surely exist, and maybe help make the world a better place. Not much of a choice.' Daar wil ik graag bij helpen, maar iets meer handvatten waren fijn geweest.
Ondanks mijn kritiek 5 sterren. Ik had dit boek niet willen missen, het maakt me een beter mens.

[Walter Schutjens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice summary on the views of one of the most influential public intellectuals of the 20th century. The book is done in the form of an interview, which cover the main questions leading up to the 2016 elections, and the future of world politics. The critique of contemporary capitalism, and the neoliberal free market economic system is well structured, and convincing, without being excessively complex. There is a strong undertone in the book of lost hope, ironic as the book is called "Optimism over Despair". Chomsky sees little way out of the oncoming climate change crisis, the increasingly low living standards, and the disparagingly high wealth inequality, which is now at its highest in history.

the book then also ends with,

"We have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure that the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp the opportunities that surely exist, and maybe help make the world a better place. Not much of a choice."

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual Chomsky with his view of the world with whom I agree, even because otherwise I wouldn't read his books. My only question is why the title is optimism over despair when, after reading the book, despair overwhelms optimism by far....

Il solito Chomsky con la sua visione del mondo, che io ovviamente condivido altrimenti non leggerei i suoi libri. La mi unica domanda riguarda in effetti il titolo, considerato che dopo aver finito il libro la disperazione superava di gran lunga l'ottimismo....

THANKS TO EDELWEISS FOR THE ARC!

[Theo Kokonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's one of those Chomsky books that's mainly a collation of relevant interviews, some very recent to the book's publication date of 2017.
It's refreshing to see that even though there may be various interviews spanning different periods there is a lot of consistency in Chomsky's thought and general scholarly directions. He has investigated very deeply in the various topics he covers and it's always an enlightening read.
As for the title 'Optimism over Despair', I'd disagree - I think the book gave me a more pessimistic outlook!

[Paulla Ferreira Pinto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nunca é demais ler o que tem Chomsky a dizer sobre o que quer que seja: é sempre instrutivo e, no mínimo, leva-nos a questionar a versão oficial dos acontecimentos.
Por isso, a notação atribuída prende-se muito mais com a tradução, que me parece executada de forma mecânica, muito literal, sem o cuidado de adequar o significado das expressões utilizadas às correspondentes em português, ignorando assim as idiossincrasias semânticas de cada idioma, do que propriamente com o mérito de conteúdo, este sempre de elevadíssimo nível.

[حاتم عاشور · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب هو عبارة عن تفريغ لعدد من مقابلات للمحلل السياسي والمفكر المعروف نعوم .. يتناول بها العديد من المواضيع والعناوين .. لكن العديد منها يختص بالشأن الأمريكي الداخلي أو التفاعلي الخارجي
لذلك يبدو عنوان الكتاب "العالم .. إلى أين؟" كبيراً جداً على محتواه .. بحيث يحتوي بعض التحليلات على مستوى العالم لكنها ليست الغالبة.

يتناول الحديث عن الرأسمالية والاشتراكية وحتى تفاصيلها وما بعدها أو حتى قبلها .. الأحزاب الأمريكية والفترات الرئاسية وتأثيراتها .. بالتأكيد القضية الفلسيطنية .. وإلقاء نظرة على الهجمة المركّزة على الإسلام والمسلمين.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I considered giving this just 4 stars out of spite since there is exactly one paragraph of optimism in the entire book, and it's the final paragraph:

"We have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp the opportunities that surely exist, and maybe help make the world a better place. Not much of a choice."

Well, you have a point there.

[Sofía · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es mi primer acercamiento a Chomsky desde el punto de vista político. Ha sido muy útil, puesto que soy una neófita sobre el asunto. La desventaja (o ventaja) es que es muy reiterativo. Fuera de ello, el contenido es excepcional. Muy valioso si queremos cuestionarnos la situación política y económica de EUA y el mundo.

[John Davie]

The Grim Truth

In the face of a crushing class war and an environmental catastrophe has brought on an extinction event that will surpass the one six million years ago, Chomsky calls for optimism. A depressed resignation, though completely natural will never lead to the change we need. Chomsky calls instead for action.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to agree with an earlier reviewer who felt after reading the book that optimism is less appropriate than despair at this point. Still, Chomsky’s assessment of where we are and how we got here is well worth reading.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading but not very uplifting. The optimism in the title is only titular. Chomsky concludes his book of interviews by saying that choosing optimism is the only logical choice to make. A philosopher's argument, yes, but not particularly warming. Honest, though.