Necessary Illusions cover art

Necessary Illusions

Thought Control in Democratic Societies

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Necessary Illusions

By: Noam Chomsky
Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

In his 1988 CBC Massey Lecture, Noam Chomsky inquires into the nature of the media in a political system where the population cannot be disciplined by force and thus must be subjected to more subtle forms of ideological control. Specific cases are illustrated in detail, using the U.S. media primarily but also media in other societies. Chomsky considers how the media might be democratized (as part of the general problem of developing more democratic institutions) in order to offer citizens broader and more meaningful participation in social and political life.

©1989 Noam Chomsky (P)2014 Audible Inc. Freedom & Security Media Studies Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences United States World Iran Middle East Socialism Soviet Union Military Vietnam War War Imperialism Russia Liberalism Imperial Japan Social justice Latin American Self-Determination American Foreign Policy Capitalism

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Utilitarianism/On Liberty cover art
On Anarchism cover art
Understanding Power cover art
Because We Say So cover art
Profit Over People cover art
The Essential Chomsky cover art
Interventions cover art
Hegemony or Survival cover art
The Establishment cover art
Hopes and Prospects cover art
A Certain Idea of France cover art
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life cover art
Conspiracy Theory in America cover art
Lords of Secrecy cover art
The Fate of Abraham cover art
Very Bad People cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Very well narrated and researched book into media manipulation of their readers. The examples come almost exclusively from the USA.

Excellent book which should be read by everybody.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is designed in a way that makes the world look bleak and out of our hands. There are elements of society that are true to this and now we have the internet, the concepts of this book are being re-arranged as we speak. Essential for media workers and thinkers.

Enlightening and empowering

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There's very little wrong factually with the content of this book however it is very boring and repetitive and it seems like it has been stretched to about 10 times the length of what it should be.

Yawn

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.