Question: What was the main topic that both William L. Shirer and Noam Chomsky write about?

Context articles: Plato's Problem
The Sound Pattern of English
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship
Noam Chomsky
Political positions of Noam Chomsky
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Imperial Ambitions
William L. Shirer
Berlin Diary

Plato's Problem is the term given by Noam Chomsky to "the problem of explaining how we can know so much" given our limited experience.
 Chomsky believes that Plato asked (using modern terms) how we should account for the rich, intrinsic, common structure of human cognition, when it seems undetermined by extrinsic evidence presented to a person during human development.
 In linguistics this is referred to as the "argument from poverty of the stimulus" (APS).
 Such arguments are common in the natural sciences, where a developing theory is always "underdetermined by evidence".
 Chomsky's approach to Plato's Problem involves treating cognition as a normal research topic in the natural sciences, so cognition can be studied to elucidate intertwined genetic, developmental, and biophysical factors.
 Plato's Problem is most clearly illustrated in the Meno dialogue, in which Socrates demonstrates that an uneducated boy nevertheless understands geometric principles.
The Sound Pattern of English (frequently referred to as SPE) is a 1968 work on phonology (a branch of linguistics) by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle.
 It presents a view of the phonology of English, and has been very influential in both the field of phonology and in the analysis of the English language.
 Chomsky and Halle present a view of phonology as a linguistic subsystem, separate from other components of the grammar, that transforms an underlying phonemic sequence according to rules and produces as its output the phonetic form that is uttered by a speaker.
 The theory fits with the rest of Chomsky's early theories of language in the sense that it is transformational; as such it serves as a landmark in Chomsky's theories by adding a clearly articulated theory of phonology to his previous work which focused on syntax.
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (known in linguistic circles simply as "Aspects") is a book on linguistics written by American linguist Noam Chomsky, first published in 1965.
 In "Aspects", Chomsky presented a deeper, more extensive reformulation of transformational generative grammar (TGG), a new kind of syntactic theory that he had introduced in the 1950s with the publication of his first book, "Syntactic Structures".
 "Aspects" is widely considered to be the foundational document and a proper book-length articulation of Chomskyan theoretical framework of linguistics.
 It presented Chomsky's epistemological assumptions with a view to establishing linguistic theory-making as a formal (i.e. based on the manipulation of symbols and rules) discipline comparable to physical sciences, i.e. a domain of inquiry well-defined in its nature and scope.
 From a philosophical perspective, it directed mainstream linguistic research away from behaviorism, constructivism, empiricism and structuralism and towards mentalism, nativism, rationalism and generativism, respectively, taking as its main object of study the abstract, inner workings of the human mind related to language acquisition and production.
"Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship" is the title of an essay by the American academic Noam Chomsky.
 It was first published as part of Chomsky's "American Power and the New Mandarins".
 Parts of the essay were delivered as a lecture at New York University in March 1968, as part of Albert Schweitzer Lecture Series.
 The first third of the essay, "The Menace of Liberal Scholarship" by Noam Chomsky in "The New York Review of Books", January 2, 1969, was taken "almost verbatim" from this essay.
Avram Noam Chomsky ( ; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.
 Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics," Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science.
 He is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media.
 Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism.
 He holds a joint appointment as Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and laureate professor at the University of Arizona.
Noam Chomsky is an intellectual, political activist, and critic of the foreign policy of the United States and other governments.
 Noam Chomsky describes himself as a libertarian socialist, a sympathizer of anarcho-syndicalism, and is considered to be a key intellectual figure within the left-wing of US politics.
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is a 1992 documentary film that explores the political life and ideas of linguist, intellectual, and political activist Noam Chomsky.
 Canadian filmmakers Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick expand the analysis of political economy and mass media presented in "Manufacturing Consent", a 1988 book Chomsky coauthored with Edward S. Herman.
Imperial Ambitions: Conversations with Noam Chomsky on the Post-9/11 World is a 2005 Metropolitan Books American Empire Project publication of interviews with American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky conducted and edited by award-winning journalist David Barsamian of Alternative Radio.
William Lawrence Shirer (February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent.
 He wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years.
 Originally a foreign correspondent for the "Chicago Tribune" and the International News Service, Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a CBS radio team of journalists known as "Murrow's Boys".
 He became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II (1940).
 With Murrow, he organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by news broadcasts.
Berlin Diary (1934–1941) is a first-hand account of the rise of Nazi Germany and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer.
 Shirer, a radio reporter for CBS, covered Germany for several years until the Nazi press censors made it impossible for him to report objectively to his listeners in the United States; feeling increasingly uncomfortable, he left the country.
 The identities of many of Shirer's German sources were disguised to protect these people from retaliation by the German secret police, the Gestapo.
 The contents of this book provided much of the material for his landmark book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".