The Withdrawal

Resumen del libro

Two of our most celebrated intellectuals grapple with the uncertain aftermath of the American collapse in Afghanistan"Through the structure of a deeply engaging conversation between two of our most important contemporary public intellectuals, we are urged to defy the inattention of the media to the disastrous damage inflicted in Afghanistan on life, land, and resources in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal and the connections to the equally avoidable and unnecessary wars on Iraq and Libya."-from the foreword by Angela Y. DavisNot since the last American troops left Vietnam have we faced such a sudden vacuum in our foreign policy-not only of authority, but also of explanations of what happened, and what the future holds.

Few analysts are better poised to address this moment than Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, intellectuals and critics whose work spans generations and continents. Called "the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet" by the New York Times Book Review, Noam Chomsky is the guiding light of dissidents around the world. In The Withdrawal, Chomsky joins with noted scholar Vijay Prashad-who "helps to uncover the shining worlds hidden under official history and dominant media" (Eduardo Galeano)-to get at the roots of this unprecedented time of peril and change.

Chomsky and Prashad interrogate key inflection points in America's downward spiral: from the disastrous Iraq War to the failed Libyan intervention to the descent into chaos in Afghanistan. As the final moments of American power in Afghanistan fade from view, this crucial book argues that we must not take our eyes off the wreckage-and that we need, above all, an unsentimental view of the new world we must build together.

Biografía del autor

Noam Chomsky (1928) se doctoró en lingüística en la Universidad de Pennsylvania en 1955 y en la actualidad es profesor de esta especialidad en el Departamento de Lingüística y Filosofía del Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts. Ha escrito numerosas obras sobre lingüística, filosofía, historia de las ideas y sobre política internacional contemporánea. De entre sus numerosas obras destacan: Lucha de clases (Crítica, 1997), La quinta libertad (Crítica, 1988), Los guardianes de la libertad (Crítica, 2000), Actos de agresión (Crítica, 2000), El beneficio es lo que cuenta (Crítica, 2000), El miedo a la democracia (Crítica, 2001), Conocimiento y libertad (Península, 2007), Lo que decimos, se hace (Península, 2008) y Ambiciones imperiales (Península, 2011).

Biografía del autor

Vijay Prashad (Calcuta, 1967) es historiador, editor y periodista. Actualmente, es director de Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, editor en LeftWord Books y corresponsal jefe de Globetrotter. Reconocido especialista y conferenciante, sus reflexiones aparecen con regularidad en Z Magazin y Color Lines Magazine, así como en los periódicos digitales ZNET y Counter Punch entre otros. Ha escrito más de veinte libros, entre los cuales destacan: Las naciones oscuras: Una historia del Tercer Mundo y Las naciones pobres. Una posible historia global del Sur.