Noam Chomsky has attained fame in two different areas. He is a world-renowned authority in linguistics and also a major public intellectual. But while in the former area his achievements are universally recognized, even by those who disagree with him, this is not so for his work as a public intellectual, where he is idolized by some, respected by others, tolerated by yet others, and execrated by more than a few.

The Myth of American Idealism is a systematic account of Chomsky’s views on foreign policy based on his articles and interviews. The book has been compiled by Nathan J. Robinson, Chomsky’s close friend and disciple, and prepared after discussions with him and with his full approval. Although Chomsky was unable to examine the final draft because of a disabling stroke, we can be confident that the book accurately presents his opinions.

Chomsky is relentless in making his case that, like other great powers, the United States has from the inception of our republic pursued a rapacious foreign policy aiming at gaining power and pelf for an elite group of business interests and government officials, while not shrinking from atrocities on “inferior” races at home and abroad, all hidden under the cloak of idealism. The Myth of American Idealism provides powerful ammunition for those of us who support a noninterventionist foreign policy along the lines of Murray Rothbard and Ron Paul by its forceful challenge to the justifications given for American involvement in foreign wars and imperialist adventures. Particularly useful in this regard is his account of the way in which progressive intellectuals such as the leading pragmatist philosopher John Dewey supported Woodrow Wilson’s disastrous decision to enter World War I. Dewey and other leading lights of the time such as Walter Lippmann hoped that the economic planning required by participation in the war could be used to advance socialism, and indeed many of the New Deal programs to cartelize and control the American economy had their beginnings in Wilsonian wartime measures.