On Failed States

I intend to review at some point Noam Chomsky's new book, Failed States, but in the meantime this snippet from the July issue of Prospect caught my attention:

Failed quotes

The front cover of Failed States, Noam Chomsky's new bodice-ripper, comes emblazoned with a quote from David Goodhart, Prospect's editor. "Chomsky has an authority granted by brilliance," Goodhart is quoted as saying, but casual browsers tempted into making a snap purchase by this endorsement might like to know that in the original quote, the "brilliance" in question referred not to Chomsky's truth-to-power political analysis, but to his work in linguistics.

This particular piece of sharp practice has, I'm sure, nothing to do with Chomsky, but whoever at the publisher is responsible certainly has the example of the Master himself where it comes to manufacturing misconception.

UPDATE: The publicity material for Chomsky's book is here. The first of three examples of "Praise for Noam Chomsky" reads '"Chomsky has an authority granted by brilliance' - David Goodhart, Sunday Times". The full quotation, from an article in The Sunday Times announcing the outcome of Prospect magazine's poll for top public intellectual, reads (emphasis added): "And I think Chomsky has an authority granted by brilliance in one area." It is clear in context what Goodhart means by this. I don't blame Chomsky for the malpractice of his publisher, but malpractice it certainly is.