In these contentious times, free and unfettered access to information is more important than ever. And censorship is no longer just for books. Pekoll examines the many ways that access to information-- especially of underrepresented perspectives-- is being restricted beyond the banning of books--adapted from foreword.

"Fighting Censorship equips readers with arguments against the common reasons that are given to ban books in schools and public libraries. Having successfully fought against book bans in their school district by organizing protests and media interviews toraise awareness, the authors share how to fight back against book bans, speak out against censorship, and win the right to intellectual freedom"-- Provided by publisher.

"A liberal society stands on the proposition that we should all take seriously the idea that we might be wrong. This means we must place no one, including ourselves, beyond the reach of criticism; it means that we must allow people to err, even where the error offends and upsets, as it often will." So writes Jonathan Rauch in Kindly Inquisitors, which has challenged readers for more than twenty years with its bracing and provocative exploration of...

When people discuss the idea of banning books, they are also discussing much broader concepts, including censorship, basic freedoms, and the power of religious and political institutions. These challenging topics are presented in accessible ways as readers explore the debate surrounding banned books. As they immerse themselves in many viewpoints surrounding this debate through engaging text, fact boxes, vibrant photographs, and graphic organizers,...

"In America we like to think we live in a land of liberty, where everyone can say whatever they want. Throughout our history, however, we have also been quick to censor people who offend or frighten us. We talk a good game about freedom of speech, then we turn around and deny it to others. In this brief but bracing book, historian Jonathan Zimmerman and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Signe Wilkinson tell the story of free speech in America:...

In 2022, when small-town librarian Amanda Jones caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss "book content," she knew what was at stake. She spoke out that night at the meeting, and days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing. She has been called a groomer, faced death threats, and more, but she wouldn't give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance. Mapping...

"Michael J. Glennon offers a response to the increasing censorship of America's digital marketplace of ideas, arguing that the censors are short-sighted. Quibbling over outdated distinctions misses the real threat--which is the fusion of public and private power into a modern-day cartel able to overleap longstanding constitutional safeguards. American democracy, he argues, rests on a decentralized marketplace of ideas independent of the government....

Communications giants like Google, Comcast, and AT&T enjoy increasingly unchecked control over speech. As providers of broadband access and Internet search engines, they can control online expression. Their online content restrictions-from obstructing e-mail to censoring cablecasts-are considered legal because of recent changes in free speech law. In this book, Dawn Nunziato criticizes recent changes in free speech law in which only the government...

Better Left Unsaid is in the unseemly position of defending censorship from the central allegations that are traditionally leveled against it. Taking two genres generally presumed to have been stymied by the censor's knife-the Victorian novel and classical Hollywood film-this book reveals the varied ways in which censorship, for all its blustery self-righteousness, can actually be good for sex, politics, feminism, and art. As much as Victorianism...

"Fictional stories have long been imagined to hold an uncanny power over hearts and minds. These days, everybody frets about fiction: according to the National Coalition Against Censorship, the current wave of book bans is the worst since the 1980s, and our cultural debates are consumed by questions about the politics and moral responsibility of storytelling. Can readers and viewers, at any age, be harmed by what they read and see? In Dangerous Fictions,...