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Noam Chomsky and the Fight Against Empire

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Daniel Bessner on a radical critic’s achievements and the limits of protest.

Jeet Heer

March 9, 2025

Noam Chomsky photographed at his office at MIT.(Rick Friedman / Corbis via Getty Images)

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Noam Chomsky and the Fight Against Empire | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Daniel Bessner on a radical critic’s achievements and the limits of protest.

For nearly seven decades, Noam Chomsky has been the most important critic of American foreign policy. Daniel Besser, co-host of the Nation podcast American Prestige, recently reviewed for the magazine a new book authored by Chomsky and Nathan J. Robinson, The Myth of American Idealism. In his review, Daniel both extolled Chomsky’s monumental achievement and raised questions about the weakness of antiwar movements in challenging the terrible policies that Chomsky has so diligently analyzed.

Daniel and I talked about Chomsky’s legacy as well as the way the establishment has been able to success thwart popular resistance.

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For nearly seven decades, Noam Chomsky has been the most important critic of American foreign policy. Daniel Besser, co-host of the Nation podcast American Prestige, recently reviewed for the magazine a new book authored by Chomsky and Nathan J. Robinson, The Myth of American Idealism. In his review, Daniel both extolled Chomsky’s monumental achievement and raised questions about the weakness of antiwar movements in challenging the terrible policies that Chomsky has so diligently analyzed.Daniel and I talked about Chomsky’s legacy as well as the way the establishment has been able to success thwart popular resistance.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The CIA’s Assassination Campaign in Mexico w/ Alexander Aviña | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

CNN is reporting that the CIA has been actively engaged in assassination campaigns in Mexico targeting alleged members of drug cartels. While both the CIA and the Mexican government have denied these allegations, there is clear evidence of an escalating war in the country that is destabilizing the government. I spoke with Alexander Aviña, a historian at Arizona State University, about the CIA’s activities in the context of the Trump administration’s wider assertion of imperial dominance over the Western hemisphere.

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Jeet HeerTwitterJeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.


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