David Barsamian is often asked about Noam Chomsky. How did he connect with the legendary MIT professor? Very simply, he wrote him a letter around 1980 and to his surprise he responded. A correspondence ensued. They did their first interview in 1984. Two years after that David decided to launch Alternative Radio as he was determined to get Chomsky's voice on the air. Since then David and Noam have done many programs and a bunch of books. Barsamian says Chomsky is easy to work with. He describes himk as patient and that he practices the egalitarianism he preaches. But behind Chomsky's soft-spoken voice is an extraordinary intellectual acumen. In this interview Chomsky covers a lot of ground, in typical his fashion, from Latin America to India to elections to where he sees signs of hope to creating a better society.

Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. The legendary MIT professor practically invented modern linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is "America’s greatest intellectual" who "makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable." He is the author of scores of books, including Masters of Mankind, Power Systems and What Kind of Creatures Are We?