Chomsky, N. (1978). Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton. (Original work published 1957)
Davis (6th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library P291 .C5
Chomsky's first published book explores his relationship to the "Bloomfieldian school" of linguistic thought and his views on syntactic theory. Although Chomsky's ideas would change in his later books, Syntactic Structures stands as a seminal work in the area of syntactic theory and is arguably the basis for the bulk of 20th-century linguistic theory.
Chomsky, N. (1968). Language and mind. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Davis (6th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library P106 .C56
This series of lectures outlines Chomsky's formative theories of language and mind. They will provide the reader with a grounding in theories that form the basis for the bulk of Chomsky's work in linguistics. In conjunction with other sources, then, the astute researcher can establish the connection between Chomsky's philosophies of language and mind and his politics.
Chomsky, N. (1969). American power and the new mandarins. New York: Pantheon.
Davis (4th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library E744 .C514
Chomsky's first political book, a collection of essays written between 1966 and 1968, expresses his strenuous objections to the Vietnam War. Readers interested in the evolution of Chomsky's political thought and in the origins of his career as a public intellectual may want to familiarize themselves with this book, and thus, with Chomsky's arrival onto the political scene.
Chomsky, N. (1982). Towards a new cold war: essays on the current crisis and how we got there. New York: Pantheon.
Davis (4th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library E840 .C49
Often cited in biographical sources among Chomsky's most important books, Towards a New Cold War reflects an interesting historical perspective, having been written at the beginning of the Reagan administration. Chomsky's framing of the United States as the "center of international terrorism" in this book foreshadows his most recent critiques of United States foreign policy.
Chomsky, N. (1983). The fateful triangle: the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. Boston: South End Press.
Davis (4th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library E183.8.I7 C455 1983
Chomsky is especially well known for his criticism of the United States' treatment, from a foreign policy standpoint, of Israel and Palestine. The first edition of Fateful Triangle, published in 1983, condemned the actions of the United States and Israel in a manner generally regarded as partisan, albeit well-documented. New chapters in the 1999 updated version discuss significant events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the book's initial publication. Also included in the second edition is a foreword by Edward Said, a well-known colleague of Chomsky's.
Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon.
Davis (6th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library P95.82.U6 H47 1988
Not to be confused with the film of the same name by Wintonick and Achbar or the companion book published by the Institute of Policy Alternatives of Montréal, this book uses a series of case studies to advance a "propaganda model" of the treatment of foreign nations by Western news media and the influence of such media on public knowledge and belief. The result is an incisive critique of United States foreign policy.
Chomsky, N. (1989). Necessary illusions: thought control in democratic societies. Boston: South End Press.
Davis (6th floor stacks) P95.8 .C48 1989
In the vein of Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky provides in Necessary Illusions an update on the duplicity he perceives throughout Western news media, providing case studies that lead towards a model of propaganda techniques in journalism and some methods of detecting their presence. As in much of his work, Chomsky attempts to expose Western governments' efforts to control public knowledge.
Chomsky, N. (2001). 9-11. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Davis (5th floor stacks) or House Undergraduate Library HV6432 .C446 2001
Published before the end of 2001, 9-11 examines the United States' response to the events of September 11, 2001 and its involvement in surrounding issues. The publication of this book has gained Chomsky a substantial amount of critical attention; reactions have run the gamut from positive to negative, as a quick perusal of Amazon.com reviews, both site-provided and user-submitted, will clearly indicate.
Chomsky, N. (2002). Understanding power: the indispensable Chomsky. New York: New Press.
Davis (6th floor stacks) P85.C47 U5 2002
Editors Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel present Chomsky's latest works in this, his most recently published volume. Fully half of the book is comprised of annotations, and its catalog record indicates that further explanatory footnotes are available at the Understanding Power Web site.