While thorough, well argued, and extremely informative, was significantly denser and more academic than I was expecting or could tolerate. Reads like a court transcript of a prosecutor laying out an irrefutable set of facts where a conviction is guaranteed; as bulletproof as 10ft of cement and equally hard to get through ( )

No idea how to rate books like this. Did I find the concept and information valuable? Yes. Did I actually enjoy most of it? Not really. That being said, it's a super important book about American/Western media, and it has allowed me to see it's goals and propaganda a lot more clearly. Fascinating book, but can get very dry, for very long periods of time that make it kind of brutal to get through. ( )

Let me make it clear that my three and a half star rating reflects my reading of this book in 2023: some 35 years after it was written. Unsurprisingly, things have moved on since then and, whilst there is much to take from this work, there are two provisos; the first is that I think we are a little more aware of cultural bias than we were, the second is that there has been a liberalisation of the media through on line blogs, etc. We now all have the ability to express our views. Corporate media and our political masters are much less likely to be believed in their ravings.

An updated version of this work would be a definite five star offeing. ( )

Whelp. That was a lot more depressing than I remember it. I read it again to compare it to Matt Taiibi's book. And I went to Chomsky's web site to see what his thoughts are now.

Taiibi made me laugh. He admitted his bias. He's roundly being beaten for it online. For those of us who have long existed in the center, his candor is appreciated. Chomsky's work is dated, but his opinions don't seem to have changed. ( )