Playing God in Indo-China

NOAM CHOMSKY i For Reasons nf Slat Thr Backroom Boyt Fontana Collins 12 cmh back b each

T is impossibi not to feel some exasperation with Noam Chomsky sky He is of course an immensely distinguished scholar who has put his prestige and ability to work as a leading critic of America's war in Indo-China As such he is entitled to honour But it remains true that warmed up journalism is usually an unappetizing ing dish and these two books illustrate trate the point For Reasons of State consists of reprinted articles with titles such as Indochina the next phase On the limits of civil disobedience obedience (about the Berrigans and Psychology and ideology (on the behaviourist B F Skinnen The Backroom Bovs is an exhaustive critique of the Pentagon Papers with in introduction and epilogue most of it is new (though the epilogue is not I but both its subject and internal evidence betray the fact rhat it was conceived and probably written ten for the most part a good time aco Any admirer of Professor Chomsky especially in his role as a public man any student of American can foreign policy chronicler of the Vietnam War teacher of American historywill will be delighted to have all this material between hard rovers for ease of reference and it is to be hoped that many young radicals will dip into their pockets to buy (if they have to choose I'm Reasons of State is the one to go for since it covers more ground Nevertheless theless a reviewer must sigh over i missed opportunity One is not supposed to blame a wan for writing one <oort of hook rather than another his Is and ought to be the choice But the rule ix not without exceptions lor instance stance why has Professor Chomsky brought out two small collections instead stead of one biggish one He constantly stantly refers from The Backrimni Boys to For Reasons of State and vice versa it would be much more convenient to have everything in one place Then he has done a good deal of tinkering with his articles expanding them and patching them and marrying them but it remains very difficult to see the wood for ihe trees what with the endless crossreferences references the perpetual repetitions tions the seventy pages of notes in small type and the heterogeneity of the topics The various articles were written at various dates between tween 1 and April l ami the fact shows since the international situation especially with regard to Vietnam changed so much in that time (And of course much has happened pened since Bluntly Professor Chomsky has not gone nearly far enough in his...