The world's most prominent intellectual activist embarks on an investigative examination of the changing American power, threats to democracy, and the future of the global order.

In a penetrating, thorough analysis of the current international situation, Noam Chomsky explores how the United States, despite the rise of Europe and Asia, still largely determines the terms of global politics.

Using a wide range of examples, from the sordid history of U.S. involvement in Cuba to the most recent developments in China, from the memorandums on torture to sanctions against Iran, he analyzes how America's rhetoric on freedom and human rights often diverges from its actions.

He thoroughly examines the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel-Palestine, arriving at surprising and extremely astute conclusions about the functioning of imperial power in our increasingly chaotic planet.

Along the way, Chomsky delivers an impressive anatomy of how the American elite has ensured even greater protection from any democratic constraints on its actions.

Yet, he argues, we do not have the luxury to resign ourselves to these developments.

With climate change and the proliferation of nuclear weapons threatening even the survival of human civilization, the need for the people to take on the prevention of catastrophe becomes even greater.

Relentless, unyielding, and thoroughly documented, "Who Rules the World?" helps us to understand the essential issues of our time, just as we have come to expect from Chomsky.