“Judged in terms of the power, range, novelty and influence of his thought, Noam Chomsky is arguably the most important intellectual alive.”
                          —The New York Times Book Review

When Professor Chomsky published his groundbreaking Syntactic Structures in 1957, his reputation in the field of linguistics seemed assured.  Teaching at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he might have pursued an untroubled academic life.

By the middle of the 1960s, however, American involvement in Vietnam had ignited a raging controversay in and beyond the hallowed halls of MIT.  Chomsky became a regular speaker at protest rallies first in Massachusetts and, later, across the country.  Addressing crowds in his usual quiet, self-effacing way, he became a consistent critic of American foreign policy.  

More than thirty years later, he continues to teach and inspire.  In the wake of the so-called “Conservative Revolution,” he’s had to take on the challenge of combatting the government’s heavy-handed social policies as well.

Here’s a link to the Noam Chomsky Archive, now maintained by Z-Net