 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Tom Wolfe |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Linguistics |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
Publication date | August 2016 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 200 |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-26996-4 |
The Kingdom of Speech is a critique of Charles Darwin and Noam Chomsky written by Tom Wolfe. The book's criticisms of Chomsky are outlined in an article in Harper's.[1]
In the book, Wolfe criticises Darwin and his colleagues for taking partial credit from Alfred Wallace for the theory of evolution and ignoring Wallace's later work on the theory. Wolfe then criticises Noam Chomsky for dismissing Daniel Everett, who disputes Chomsky's claim that all languages are based ultimately on a hard-wired mechanism known as the language acquisition device (LAD). Wolfe argues that speech, not evolution, sets humans apart from animals and is responsible for all of humanity's complex achievements.