Ethical issues: censorship Books

Book SynopsisSince August 2020, the intimidation of witnesses and journalists has surged in Sri Lanka. Twelve Cries from Home navigates the memories and stories of twelve war survivors, mostly women and relatives of the disappeared, who wished to have their stories retold so that a permanent record might be made, and so that those outside the country might understand their experiences. The outcome of a journey across the island in late 2018 by writer and Professor of Literature Minoli Salgado, who was revisiting her ancestral home, Twelve Cries from Home is deeply-layered and localised work of travelling witness. It returns to the concept of home as a place of belonging and security, which is a lost ideal for most, and uses a Sri Lankan measure of distance – the call, or hoowa – to ask how we might attend to stories that are difficult to tell and to hear. Exploring the bitter complexity of war by presenting stories from four regions of Sri Lanka, it reveals the complex network of relationships between the agents of conflict and their victims, as well as the blurred boundary between victims and perpetrators, the role of informers and the process of ethical repair after traumatic experience. Twelve Cries from Home offers a rare glimpse into a country subject to enforced self-censorship, allowing us to take stock of social and political developments in Sri Lanka and what has and has not been achieved in light of the transitional justice mechanisms promised to the UN.Trade Review"This collection of true stories is the vital afterwork of any war. Here, Salgado collects and records testimony from those caught up. We gasp at what is being shared. It must be shared, read, heard, collected, disseminated. This is prize-winning work.”"A deeply sensitive and sensitizing book that offers a sophisticated understanding of real pain. Twelve Cries From Home is driven by a humanity that provides moral anchor in a terrain where the darkest instincts reign free.""A valuable document of testimony gathered during a brief time of greater openness in a country still shattered by war and cruelty.""A masterpiece."

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Book SynopsisTwo leading thinkers present alternative answers to one of the most difficult and divisive questions of our times: Is free speech under threat?Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, argues that alongside the necessary and long-overdue elevation of minority voices in recent years, there has also arisen an uncompromising intolerance most notably on university campuses and online that wrongly equates a wide range of offensive speech with violence and seeks to shut it down. This has led to an escalating free speech arms race, from which everyone loses. Charlotte Lydia Riley, historian of empire and editor of The Free Speech Wars, argues that accusations of cancel culture and defences of free speech are too often disingenuous attempts to fuel a culture war and so inhibit an important realignment in which hateful speech is at last being called out for what it is and the right to free expression is being extended to more people than ever before. Published in conjunction with Intelligence Squared, the world's leading curator of debate, this book is part of the THINK AGAIN series: short books that present two expert, contrasting but equally persuasive views in a single volume that can be read from either end.

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Book SynopsisTwo leading thinkers present alternative answers to one of the most difficult and divisive questions of our times: Is free speech under threat?Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, the leading free expression organisation, argues that alongside the necessary and long-overdue elevation of minority voices in recent years, there has also arisen an uncompromising intolerance most notably on university campuses and online that wrongly equates a wide range of offensive speech with violence and seeks to shut it down. This has led to an escalating free speech arms race, from which everyone loses.Charlotte Lydia Riley, historian of empire and editor of The Free Speech Wars, argues that accusations of cancel culture and defences of free speech are too often disingenuous attempts to fuel a culture war and so inhibit an important realignment in which hateful speech is at last being called out for what it is and the right to free expression is being extended to more people than ever before.Published in conjunction with Intelligence Squared, the world's leading curator of debate, this book is part of the THINK AGAIN series: short books that present two expert, contrasting but equally persuasive views in a single volume that can be read from either end.

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Book SynopsisExamining a phenomenon that is sweeping the country, Cancel This Book shines the spotlight on the suppression of open and candid debate. The public shaming of individuals for actual or perceived offenses, often against emerging notions of proper racial and gender norms and relations, has become commonplace. In a number of cases, the shaming is accompanied by calls for the offending individuals to lose their jobs, positions, or other status. Frequently, those targeted for “cancellation” simply do not know the latest, ever-changing norms (often related to language) that they are accused of transgressing—or they have honest questions about issues that have been deemed off-limits for debate and discussion. Cancel This Book offers a unique perspective from Dan Kovalik, a progressive author who supports the ongoing movements for racial and gender equality and justice, but who is concerned about the prevalence of “cancelling” people, and especially of people who are well-intentioned and who are themselves allied with these movements. While many progressives believe that “cancelling” others is a form of activism and holding others accountable, Cancel This Book argues that “cancellation” is oftentimes counter-productive and destructive of the very values which the “cancellers” claim to support. And indeed, we now see instances in the workplace where employers are using this spirt of “cancellation” to pit employees against each other, to exert more control over the workforce and to undermine worker and labor solidarity. Kovalik observes that many progressives are quietly opposed to this “Cancel Culture” and to many instances of “cancellation” they witness, but they are afraid to air these concerns publicly lest they themselves be “cancelled.” The result is the suppression of open debate about important issues involving racial and gender matters, and even issues related to how to best confront the current COVID-19 pandemic. While people speak in whispers about their true feelings about such issues, critical debate and discussion is avoided, resentments build, and the movement for justice and equality is ultimately disserved. Trade Review"The liberal proponents of cancel culture, as Dan Kovalik correctly points out, have become the Grand Inquisitors of speech. They wallow in a cloying self-righteousness while at the same time they refuse, either because of cowardice or ineptitude, to confront the real centers of power—the array of intelligence agencies that monitor and watch us 24 hours a day, the rampant out-of-control militarism, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and the bankrupt corporate media outlets that amplify their petty moral absolutism. The proponents of cancel culture are part of the American burlesque of anti-politics masquerading as politics.”—Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of America: The Farewell Tour “The strongest case against cancel culture should come from liberals and progressives who treasure freedom of speech and due process. Unfortunately, too many of them are asleep at the wheel. Not so Kovalik, who makes a strong liberal argument against the cancer of cancel culture.”—Alan Dershowitz, author of Cancel Culture: The Latest Attack on Free Speech and Due Process “Thankfully, Kovalik helps to cut through the Orwellian lies and dissembling . . . just when such truth-telling is so desperately needed.”—Oliver Stone, author and Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter “Kovalik offers an unflinching and desperately needed critique, not only of cancel culture, but also of the US left, which has largely forsaken class struggle for identity politics and political correctness.”—Greg Godels, writer covering political economy, current events, and philosophy “Dan Kovalik’s latest is a much-needed, laudable enterprise, courageously sounding the alarm about a tyranny being perpetrated in the name of moral and social renewal. . . . Cancel culture is militantly aggressive, unforgiving, ruthless, aimed at vilification and final extirpation of anyone who disagrees with or in any way resists its unbending, non-negotiable agenda.” —John Rachel, Dissident Voice Cancel This Book, takes aim at the domestic progressive scene and its ‘cancel culture’ aberration. . . . In his personable and anecdotal style, Kovalik compellingly revisits some of the better-known excesses of cancel culture. . . . Cancel is full of gems unearthed by Kovalik. . . . I look forward to the next book from the perceptive and prolific Dan Kovalik, which could go further and illuminate the dynamics of the underlying forces rising at this historical junction associated with the bankruptcy of liberalism and the failure of neoliberalism to serve its constituents.—Roger Harris, Counterpunch

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Book SynopsisIn America, censorship surges in periods of demographic and political change. Its primary purpose is to silence challenges to an established elite or norm. Today, censorship is part of a larger assault on such American institutions as schools, public libraries, and universities, the better to establish more control over the people--while also pilfering their wallets. On Censorship is a part of the Publisher’s Speakers Corner Books.

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Book SynopsisAcademic freedom is under siege, as our universities become the sites of increasingly fraught battles over freedom of speech. While much of the public debate has focussed on ‘no platforming’ by students, this overlooks the far graver threat posed by concerted efforts to silence the critical voices of both academics and students, through the use of bureaucracy, legal threats and online harassment. Such tactics have conspicuously been used, with particularly virulent effect, in an attempt to silence academic criticism of Israel. This collection uses the controversies surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a means of exploring the limits placed on academic freedom in a variety of different national contexts. It looks at how the increased neoliberalisation of higher education has shaped the current climate, and considers how academics and their universities should respond to these new threats. Bringing together new and established scholars from Palestine and the wider Middle East as well as the US and Europe, Enforcing Silence shows us how we can and must defend our universities as places for critical thinking and free expression.Trade ReviewEnforcing Silence is a much-needed intervention in debates that have long raged about academic freedom in relation to the Palestine question and academic boycott. It provides a thoughtful critique of the usefulness of a liberal notion of academic freedom from a variety of disciplinary and geographic locations ... a thoughtfully curated and insightful collection of essays that will give scholars, students, and activists important lines of analysis to counter enforced silence. * Journal of Palestine Studies *This collection of essays deserves the attention of political theorists and civil liberties lawyers as well as Middle East area experts. Its arguments may also be of interest to a wider public in the wake of America’s long, hot summer of protests by Black Lives Matter. * The Middle East Journal *As global support for Palestinian justice grows steadily, the silencing of criticism of Israel takes new aggressive forms. To understand why this is the case, and how the politics of Israel-Palestine has become indelibly connected to academic freedom, read this valuable and wide-ranging collection. * Bashir Abu-Manneh, University of Kent *Criticism of Israel has become the litmus test of “academic freedom”. Anyone believing that this is, at bottom, a straightforward and unquestionable notion will change their mind after reading this very stimulating and useful book. * Gilbert Achcar, School of Oriental and African Studies *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction, Palestine and Academic Freedom Part I: Universities and Academic Governance 1. Whose University? Academic Freedom, Neoliberalism and the Rise of ‘Israel Studies’ 2. Disciplinarity and the Boycott 3. “The Academic Field must be Defended”: Excluding Criticism of Israel from Campuses. 4. Lebanese and American Law at the American University of Beirut: A Case of Legal Liminality in Neoliberal Times 5. Precarious Work in Higher Education, Academic Freedom and the Academic Boycott of Israel in Ireland Part II: Colonial Erasure in Higher Education 6. Colonial Apologism and the Politics of Academic Freedom 7. The Academic Boycott and Beyond: Towards an Epistemological Strategy of Liberation and Decolonization 8. Colonial Academic Control in Palestine and Israel: Blueprint for Repression? Part III: Interrogating Academic Freedom 9. Lawfare against Academics and the Potential of Legal Mobilization as Counterpower 10. Rethinking Academic Palestine Advocacy and Activism: Academic Freedom, Human Rights, and the Universality of the Emancipatory Struggle 11. Against Academic Freedom: “Terrorism,” Settler Colonialism, and Palestinian Liberation 12 Privilege, Platforms, and Power: Uses and Abuses of Academic Freedom

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Book SynopsisWhy social media platforms have a responsibility to look after their platforms, how they can achieve the transparency needed, and what they should do when harms arise.

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Book SynopsisThe urge to censor is as old as the urge to speak. From the first Chinese emperor's wholesale elimination of books to the Vatican's suppression of pornography from its own collection, and on to the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the advent of Internet troll armies, words, images and ideas have always been hunted down by those trying to suppress them. In this compelling account, Eric Berkowitz reveals why and how humanity has, from the beginning, sought to silence itself. Ranging from the absurd - such as Henry VIII's decree of death for anyone who 'imagined' his demise - to claims by American slave owners that abolitionist literature should be supressed because it hurt their feelings, Berkowitz takes the reader on an unruly ride through history, highlighting the use of censorship to reinforce class, race and gender privilege and guard against offence. Elucidating phrases like 'fake news' and 'hate speech', Dangerous Ideas exposes the dangers of erasing history, how censorship has shaped our modern society and what forms it is taking today - and to what disturbing effects.Trade ReviewDangerous Ideas] always manages to surprise, especially with a lively flow of villains … [Berkowitz] is singularly focused on those heroes and heroines who refused to submit to the dictates and biases of their time. The fact that their works are still with us today hammers home the central thesis of Dangerous Ideas: censorship is ultimately futile and cannot permanently extinguish the thirst for freedom of expression. Berkowitz has assembled a stirring cast to demonstrate this.’Ariel Dorfman, NYRB; 'Free speech good! Censorship bad! Undeniable. Indisputable. Except that Eric Berkowitz denies and disputes with such intellectual agility as to induce cramping of the brain. Vivid, violent historical examples buttressing the case against censorship, while we citizens of the internet find ourselves drowning in crud for want of it. The point is you'll enjoy the ride, and the argument has never been more pressing.' Ted Koppel

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Book SynopsisThe demand for free speech on campus is a distraction, we need to follow the moneyTrade Review‘This deeply researched and urgent book reads like a detective mystery. A riveting self-defence manual for all who fear for the future of our country and our planet' -- Nancy MacLean, author of ‘Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America’‘Universities regularly conduct important discussions of free speech. And then there is the largely imaginary ‘campus free speech crisis’. This book is a detailed and valuable guide to the shadowy right-wing financial networks irresponsibly stoking the latter to the growing detriment of the former’ -- Hank Reichman, Professor Emeritus of History, California State University, East Bay‘An essential analysis of the amped-up culture wars over free speech’ -- ‘Times Higher Education’‘An insightful dive into the ways higher education has been impacted—indeed, manipulated—by conservatives. Read it and fight back’ -- Eleanor J. Bader, ‘The Progressive’'Deeply researched and well-argued' -- ‘Inside Higher Education’Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Overview of the Koch’s Campus Free Speech Machine 1. The Donor Strategy 2. The Student Groups 3. The Provocateurs 4. The Media Amplifiers 5. The Lawyers 6. Changing the Laws 7. The Academics 8. The Free Speech International Conclusion: Refusing the Plutocratic Free Speech Narrative Appendix 1: Koch Network Payments to Organizations Mentioned in the Text Appendix 2: Resources for Activists Notes Index

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Book SynopsisImmerse yourself in the stories behind the most shocking and infamous books ever published!Censorship of one form or another has existed almost as long as the written word, while definitions of what is deemed acceptable in published works have shifted over the centuries, and from culture to culture.Banned Books explores why some of the world''s most important literary classics and seminal non-fiction titles were once deemed too controversial for the public to read - whether for challenging racial or sexual norms, satirizing public figures, or simply being deemed unfit for young readers. From the banning of All Quiet on the Western Front and the repeated suppression of On the Origin of the Species, to the uproar provoked by Lady Chatterley''s Lover, entries offer a fascinating chronological account of censorship and the astonishing role that some banned books have played in changing history. Packed with eye-opening insights

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the censorship of medical books from their proliferation in print through the prohibitions placed on them during the Counter-Reformation. Forbidden Knowledge explores the censorship of medical books from their proliferation in print through the prohibitions placed on them during the Counter-Reformation. How and why did books banned in Italy in the sixteenth century end up back on library shelves in the seventeenth? Historian Hannah Marcus uncovers how early modern physicians evaluated the utility of banned books and facilitated their continued circulation in conversation with Catholic authorities. Through extensive archival research, Marcus highlights how talk of scientific utility, once thought to have begun during the Scientific Revolution, in fact, began earlier, emerging from ecclesiastical censorship and the desire to continue to use banned medical books. What's more, this censorship in medicine, which preceded the Copernican debate in astronomy by sixty yeTrade Review“A remarkable book indeed, at once learned and engaging, well written and well conceived. It is also thoroughly researched. . . . Marcus provides us with a refreshing perspective on medicine, science, books, reading practices, professional self-definition, the discourse of utility, and the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in early modern Italy. Her own book, which is well illustrated with thirty-six figures, is both illuminating and a pleasure to read.” * Journal of Modern History *"Wonderful. . . . [The book] offers and provokes meditation on the timeless nature of censorship, its practices, its intentions and, perhaps especially, its (unintended) outcomes. . . . Forbidden Knowledge also makes an important intervention in the debate about Counter-Reformation Italy, still often represented as dominated by repressive Catholic institutions. Marcus' study of the censorship of medical texts reveals a much richer picture. . . . The book offers an invaluable meditation on the processes meant to distinguish good knowledge from bad, and the fluidity of those categories." * Times Higher Education *"Many years have passed since microhistory was the latest fashion in historiography, but [this] complex, extremely erudite, nuanced, and very carefully researched book by Hannah Marcus shows how its legacy is still with us, reinterpreted in creative and innovative ways. . . . This book, written with clarity, passion and erudition at the same time as being extremely well-researched, is a model of history writing and has the potential of becoming a classic." * Metascience *"Marcus expertly explores the mechanics and meaning of the censorship of medical writings in post-Tridentine Italy in this innovative and original study. . . . Forbidden Knowledge succeeds on multiple levels that allow for the revision of many assumptions about post-Tridentine intellectual activity. By providing details into the practices of expurgation and licensing, the book delineates the priorities of the Catholic Church, while demystifying censorship. . . . Additionally, she unveils the interests and priorities of the medical community in a manner that exceeds what is often found in traditional intellectual histories. . . . Most importantly, Marcus deftly explains the various contradictions that shaped the interactions between Catholic authorities and the medical and scientific communities of early modern Italy, showing how these dynamics defined the role of outside expertise in creating 'Catholic Knowledge' for centuries to come." * Annals of Science *"Throughout, Marcus expresses her insights in a very readable prose enriched by an excellent eye for telling anecdotes. . . . Marcus has provided an impressively researched book that makes several important contributions to understanding the application of Reformation-era Catholic censorship to the intellectual world of Italian learned medicine. There is much to draw on, and build on, in this book." * Social History of Medicine *"[A] meticulously researched study. . . . This monograph presents a series of powerful and convincing arguments about the shaping of both Catholic culture and scientific knowledge in the early modern period, but it is equally rich in material for scholars from different disciplinary and methodological viewpoints. Marcus deftly deploys the techniques and concerns of scholars who study the history of book production—collecting, material culture, literacy, and reading. In short, her work presents a compelling argument married to an innovative series of methodologies." * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"This is an important study that all scholars and advanced students of early modern Europe will want to read, especially those interested in early modern medicine, religion, and the history of the book. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *"Marcus provides a fresh perspective on the complex, often conflictual, relationship between religion and science in the Counter-Reformation age, illustrating the tortuous reception of prohibited medical texts in Catholic Italy." * Nuncius *"Marcus shows how censors did their job in Counter-Reformation Italy, using medicine as a test case. Censors’ tools ranged from humanist techniques for reading, which enabled them to find and highlight problematic passages, to pens and scissors, with which they defaced the names of religious enemies and much more. But their means and powers were always limited. Drawing on unexplored documents, Marcus also recreates the system of permissions that enabled medical men to stay abreast of the new books printed in Protestant Europe. As lively as it is learned, this book reveals that Italian libraries witnessed as many scenes of struggle as of repression." -- Anthony Grafton, Princeton University“Forbidden Knowledge is a fascinating story of what can go wrong in censorship regimes when the censored field is seen as essential to human health and welfare, and when the works of the authors most in need of censoring are widely recognized as indispensable to the field. In this impeccably researched book, Marcus brings her story alive by focusing on the people involved in censorship and expurgation: frustrated administrators, busy and uncooperative professors, expert readers eager to pad their libraries at the Church’s expense, and an expurgator so pious he insisted on censoring his own works. An important contribution to the histories of early modern medicine, censorship, and the book." -- Katharine Park, author of Secrets of Women: Gender, Generation, and the Origins of Human Dissection"Marcus’s story about censorship ranges much more widely than most Anglophone accounts of the topic. Her point is that the system as we see it developing in sixteenth-century Italy was not only a device for suppressing texts, but a collection of practices for editing them, approving them, and directing their circulation. The book is provocative, overdue, and exciting. It will become an obligatory point of reference in the field, and I can imagine it acting as the launching pad for a generation of future studies." -- Adrian Johns, author of Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to GatesTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Paradox of Censorship 1. The Medical Republic of Letters and the Roman Indexes of Prohibited Books 2. Locating Expertise, Soliciting Expurgations 3. The Censor at Work 4. Censoring Medicine in Rome’s Index Expurgatorius of 1607 5. Prohibited Medical Books and Licensed Readers 6. Creating Censored Objects 7. Prohibited Books in Universal Libraries Epilogue Acknowledgments Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTony Roberts is a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, where he works on digital inequalities and digital rights. He is currently the Principal Investigator on the GCRF-UKRI-funded African Digital Rights Network.Felicia Anthonio is Campaign Manager for #KeepItOn at Access Now, a global campaign of over 300 organisations that fights against internet shutdowns. She was formerly a programme associate at the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), where she coordinated the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), a continental network of free expression organisations in Africa. She is a member of the African Digital Rights Network and a 2019 Fellow of the African Internet Governance School (AfriSIG).

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Book SynopsisThe book dives into the history of sedition and censorship in colonial India. Closely examining 100 texts that the British Empire banned, censored or deemed seditious, the work brings to life these lost gems from India’s freedom, cultural, and social movements. It includes writing by figures famous and obscure, of events immortalised and forgotten, by Indians and non-Indians, by people jailed and free, by politicians and missionaries, by travellers and novelists, and in several Indian as well as European languages. Each excerpt illuminates not just its author’s thought processes, but the times in which it was composed and circulated.

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Book SynopsisCensored Art Today is an accessible, informed analysis of the debates raging around censorship of art and so-called ‘cancel culture’, focusing on who the censors are and why they are clamping down on forms of artistic expression worldwide. Art censorship is a centuries-old issue which appears to be on the rise in the 21st century - why is this the case?Gareth Harris expertly analyses the different contexts in which artists, museums and curators face restrictions today, investigating political censorship in China, Cuba and the Middle East; the suppression of LGBTQ+ artists in 'illiberal democracies'; the algorithms policing art online; Western museums and 'cancel culture'; and the narratives around 'problematic' monuments. His fascinating study, which draws on extensive research and interviews, reveals why censorship has become the hottest of topics, impacting substantially on artists.Trade ReviewSelected as one of Wallpaper* magazine's Best Contemporary Art Books of 2022:'From political censorship in China, Cuba and the Middle East to the suppression of LGBTQ+ artists, cancel culture and the algorithms policing art online, Harris’ superbly-researched book poses critical questions about the trajectory of free speech, free expression and ultimately, who gets to decide.' - Harriet Lloyd-Smith, Wallpaper*'Where the book really excels is in exploring the novel situation in the West, where the most prominent instances of censorship now stem from progressive concerns for social justice and inclusivity. Harris' analysis is insightful and equitable [...]. And his final chapter, on the polarising question of historically problematic statues, is one of the most cogent and elegant short accounts of the subject you're likely to read.' - Gabriel Coxhead, Art QuarterlySelected as one of FAD Magazine's Top Art Books to Read in 2023: 'I'm a fan of this series of books that takes important art topics and covers them in digestible reads. Gareth Harris looks at art in repressive regimes, the contentious issues of removing statues, and how social media controls the art we see.' – Tabish Khan, FAD MagazineTable of ContentsForeword; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Political Censorship in China, Cuba and the Middle East; 2. The Suppression of LGBTQ+ Artists in 'Illiberal Democracies'; 3. The Algorithms Policing Art Online; 4. Western Museums and 'Cancel Culture'; 5. Censoring the Past? The Narratives around 'Problematic' Monuments; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

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Book SynopsisIn The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World Evgeny Morozov argues that our utopian, internet-centric thinking holds devastating consequences for the future of democracy. We were promised that the internet would set us free. From the Middle East''s ''twitter revolution'' to Facebook activism, technology would spread democracy and bring us together as never before. We couldn''t have been more wrong. In The Net Delusion Evgeny Morozov shows why internet freedom is an illusion. Not only that - in many cases the net is actually helping oppressive regimes to stifle dissent, track dissidents and keep people pacified, with companies such as Google and Amazon helping them do it. This book shows that free information doesn''t mean free people - and that, right now, everyone''s liberty is at stake. ''Offers a rare note of wisdom and common sense, on an issue overwhelmed by digital utopians''   Malcolm GladwellTrade ReviewEvgeny Morozov offers a rare note of wisdom and common sense, on an issue overwhelmed by digital utopians -- MALCOLM GLADWELLGleefully iconoclastic ... not just unfailingly readable: it is also a provocative, enlightening and welcome riposte to the cyber-utopian worldview. * The Economist *A delight ... his demolition job on the embarrassments of "internet freedom" is comprehensive ... as we go down the rabbit-hole of WikiLeaks, Morozov's humane and rational lantern will help us land without breaking our legs. -- Pat Kane * The Independent *A passionate and heavily researched account of the case against the cyber-utopians ... only by becoming "cyber-realists" can we hope to make humane and effective policy. -- Bryan Appleyard * New Statesman *Evgeny Morozov is wonderfully knowledgeable about the Internet-he seems to have studied every use of it, or every political use, in every country in the world (and to have read all the posts). And he is wonderfully sophisticated and tough-minded about politics. This is a rare combination, and it makes for a powerful argument against the latest versions of technological romanticism. His book should be required reading for every political activist who hopes to change the world on the Internet. * Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton *The Net Delusion is considerably more than an assault on political rhetoric ... a war against complacency. -- Tom Chatfield * Observer *Required reading for all ... a compelling primer and rebuff to the "cyber utopians" ... trenchant and persuasive. -- John Kampfner * Sunday Times *Lively and combative ... dauntingly well-informed ... injects a welcome dose of common sense into an issue that has been absurdly lacking in it. -- John Preston * Sunday Telegraph *Piercing...convincing...timely. -- Ben Hammersley * Financial Times *[M]ore than rewards a respectful reading, not only for the author's impressive knowledge of the internet toolbox...but because of his ability to relate such technological gadgetry to the increasing challenges that are being posed to entrenched authoritarianism -- James M Murphy * Times Literary Supplement *Selected by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011 * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisExamining high profile cases including Kiriakou, Snowden, Foxley and Assange, this book offers crucial insights into the subject of whistleblowing.

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Book SynopsisWhen Andy Ngo was attacked in the streets by Antifa in the summer of 2019, most people assumed it was an isolated incident. But those who'd been following Ngo's reporting in outlets like the New York Post and Quillette knew that the attack was only the latest in a long line of crimes perpetrated by Antifa.In Unmasked, Andy Ngo tells the story of this violent extremist movement from the very beginning. He includes interviews with former followers of the group, people who've been attacked by them, and incorporates stories from his own life. This book contains a trove of documents obtained by the author, published for the first time ever.

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Book SynopsisA powerful debunking of First Amendment orthodoxy that critiques 'reckless speech,' which endangers vulnerable groups, and elevates 'fearless speech,' which seeks to advance equality and democracy. Freedom of speech has never been more important—or more controversial. From debates about what's permissible on social media, to the politics of campus speakers and corporate advertisements, the First Amendment is incessantly in the news and constantly being held up as the fundamental principle of American democracy. Yet, in reality, it has contributed more to eroding our democracy than supporting it. In Fearless Speech, Dr. Mary Anne Franks emphasizes the distinction between what speech a democratic society should protect and what speech a democratic society should promote.  While the First Amendment in theory is politically neutral, in practice it has been legally deployed most visibly and effectively to promote p

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Book SynopsisThe WikiLeaks publisher and free speech campaigner Julian Assange has, since April 2019, been remanded at a maximum security prison in London facing extradition to the United States over WikiLeaks’ groundbreaking 2010 publications. Now, in this crisp anthology, Assange’s voice emerges – erudite, analytic and prophetic. Julian Assange In His Own Words provides a highly accessible survey of Assange’s philosophy and politics, conveying his views on how governments, corporations, intelligence agencies and the media function. As well as addressing the significance of the vast trove of leaked documents published by WikiLeaks, Assange draws on a polymathic intelligence to range freely over quantum physics, Greek mythology, macroeconomics, modern literature, and empires old and new. Drawing on his insights as the world’s most famous free speech activist Assange invites us to ask further questions about how power operates in a world increasingly dominated by a ubiquitous internet. Assange may be gagged, but in these pages his words run free, providing both an exhortation to fight for a better world and an inspiration when doing so.Trade Review“Of all the publications about Julian Assange, this — in his own words — stands out as eloquent and powerful. It's Julian speaking.” — John Pilger“[An] indispensable collection” — The Prisma“The West has political prisoners” — New York Journal of Books“The freedom fighter for all of us” — Al-Akhbar“Should become an essential tool in the campaign for Assange’s life” — Morning Star“Presents a world of sober analysis and penetrating insights” — WISE Up Action

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Book SynopsisThis is a comprehensive study of the impact of censorship on theatre in twentieth-century Spain. It draws on extensive archival evidence, vivid personal testimonies and in-depth analysis of legislation to document the different kinds of theatre censorship practised during the Second Republic (1931–6), the civil war (1936–9), the Franco dictatorship (1939–75) and the transition to democracy (1975–85). Changes in criteria, administrative structures and personnel from these periods are traced in relation to wider political, social and cultural developments, and the responses of playwrights, directors and companies are explored. With a focus on censorship, new light is cast on particular theatremakers and their work, the conditions in which all kinds of theatre were produced, the construction of genres and canons, as well as on broader cultural history and changing ideological climate – all of which are linked to reflections on the nature of censorship and the relationship between culture and the state.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of illustrations List of abbreviations Introduction 1. The Evolution of Theatre Censorship in Spain from the 1830s to the 1930s 2. Un teatro de ida y vuelta: All Change and No Change in the Second Republic and the Civil War Case Study: Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, by Vicente Mena Pérez 3. The Franco Dictatorship: Censorship as ‘Propaganda’, ‘Education’ and ‘Information’ Case Study: La casa de Bernarda Alba, by Federico García Lorca 4. The Pervasiveness of Censorship during the Dictatorship: Right-Wing Triumphalism, Commercial Theatre, Revistas and Catalan Theatre Case Study: La Infanzona, by Jacinto Benavente 5. The Realist Generation: A Spotlight on the Margins of Society Case Study: Escuadra hacia la muerte, by Alfonso Sastre 6. Experimental, Avant-Garde and Independent Theatre: Pushing the Boundaries Case Study: Castañuela 70, by Tábano and Las Madres del Cordero 7. The Censorship of Foreign Theatre: From Taming the Text to Disruptive Drama Case Study: El círculo de tiza caucasiano, by Bertolt Brecht 8. Dénouement: Dismantling the Apparatus during the Transition to Democracy Case Study: La torna, by Els Joglars/Albert Boadella Conclusion Bibliography: Archival sources Legislation Other sources Index

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For more than four hundred years, the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum struck terror into the hearts of authors, publishers and booksellers around the world, while arousing ridicule and contempt from many others, especially those in Protestant and non-Christian circles. Biased, inconsistent and frequently absurd in its attempt to ban objectionable texts of every conceivable description – with sometimes fatal consequences – the Index also reflected the deep learning and careful consideration of many hundreds of intellectual contributors over the long span of its storied evolution. This book constitutes the first full study of the Index of Prohibited Books to be published in English. It examines the reasons behind the Church’s attempts to censor religious, scientific and artistic works, and considers not only why this most sustained of campaigns failed, but what lessons can be learned for today’s debates over freedom of expression and cancel culture.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A New Yorker Best Book of the Year""A Financial Times Best Politics Book of the Year""A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year""Timely and indispensable." * Atlantic *"A fascinating new book." * The Economist *"[A] well-researched and entertaining book."---Tony Barber, Financial Times"Entertaining and disquieting."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"With meaty graphs and well-organized evidence . . . Guriev and Treisman advance subtler arguments, as they show that authoritarian rulers can come to power by democratic means and stay there."---Adam Gopnik, New Yorker"If we failed to end tyrants, we played our part in helping to mould them. As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman observe in their intelligent, important book Spin Dictators, throughout this time something far more interesting and dangerous was happening. The most sophisticated dictators were reforming themselves, and the lesson they internalised was not the need to be democratic – that, after all, went against who they were – but the need to look democratic."---David Patrikarakos, Spectator"As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman persuasively argue in Spin Dictators, their absorbing, meticulous study of the evolution of authoritarianism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, craft and deception have in recent decades supplanted fear and terror as the defining characteristics of today’s autocratic rulers. . . . In diagnosing a critical problem and proposing a prophylactic, Guriev and Treisman have performed a great service to the field of geopolitics."---Michael M. Rosen, Washington Examiner"Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman have written the most astute account of the system that has risen to challenge liberal democracy in the 21st century. Their book, Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century, describes the methods which have made it possible for Putin, Viktor Orban, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others to rule over societies that in most cases had developed reasonably well functioning democracies. Other scholars and journalists have written about the tactics used by 21st century autocrats to secure control over the institutions of a free society. But Guriev and Treisman have assembled the most thorough analysis of the building blocks of contemporary dictatorships."---Arch Puddington, American Purpose"A deeply researched tour d’horizon of the evolving dark arts of authoritarian politics."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs"The authors carefully document dozens of strategies used by authoritarian regimes around the world to successfully pass themselves off as populist supporters of democracy when the actual goal is tyranny and absolute power. As depressing as this scenario may be, the authors do politically concerned readers an immense favor, enabling us to recognize these tactics and, with that knowledge, ultimately oppose this new breed of dictator." * Booklist *"Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening."---Joshua Huminski, Diplomatic Courier"The dictatorships of the 20th century rested on violence and direct coercion. This book argues that the 21st century has seen the emergence of a new kind of spin dictatorship — in places as diverse as Hungary, Singapore and Turkey — that adopts the forms of democracy while subverting the substance."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"An excellent overview of the authoritarian landscape of the early twenty-first century and how it operates within a global environment. It is well-researched, and its references are comprehensive. The excellent narrative provides a compact history and analysis of political leadership in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."---Erwin Warkentin, European Legacy ​​​​​​​

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Book SynopsisAn uncovering of the terrifying depths of authoritarian power that hide behind the infamous story of WikiLeaksTrade Review'The vindictive hounding of Julian Assange by the US government deserves as wide an audience as possible. There is no journalist better placed to tell the story than Stefania Maurizi. This Italian journalist has been following the story of Assange and WikiLeaks closely for more than a decade and personally knows most of those involved. But what stands out is her sheer perseverance. Many journalists would have given up after her multiple requests under the Freedom of Information Act were largely rebuffed by governments in the UK, US, Sweden and Australia. But she proved dogged, engaging in what she describes as ‘trench warfare', taking them to court, the legal costs often paid for by her personally. Through this persistence, she uncovered lots of new information. As well as being the most detailed account of the persecution of Julian Assange, Maurizi weaves in the stories of whistle-blowers such as Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, making it one of the most comprehensive accounts yet of the battle between the national security apparatus and advocates of privacy and press freedom. It should be a must-read for all journalists. If Assange can be persecuted on the flimsy grounds exposed by Maurizi, then all journalists anywhere in the world who challenge the US are at risk.' -- Ewen MacAskill, Pulitzer Prize winner for Public Service 2014'A rigorous, compelling and highly readable reconstruction of the WikiLeaks case. I highly recommend this work. No one conveys better the urgency of averting the extradition and prosecution of Assange' -- Daniel Ellsberg, US whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers'Maurizi's relentless, rigorous and courageous work has produced compelling evidence for the flagrant and deliberate illegality of Julian Assange's persecution. She has decisively contributed to my official investigation into the case as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture' -- Professor Nils Melzer, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (2016-2022)'Stefania Maurizi's book on the persecution of Julian Assange is the definitive text on this tragedy. To read it is to resist, it is a must read. Free Assange' -- Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd'Stefania Maurizi's revelation of the role of the UK Crown Prosecution Service, then run by Keir Starmer, in the persecution of Julian Assange was a journalistic landmark. Her book is a lesson to all who expose the malign secrets of state power' -- John Pilger'Heroic freedom-fighter or maverick controversialist - Assange is a polarising character. But we can all agree that the classified documents he published revealed much of the heinous barbarity of the post 9/11 US-led wars. This book is a passionate plea in Julian's defence. To extradite would send the message that no journalist or publisher is safe anywhere in the world' -- Kathy Lette, best-selling author and TV presenter'Everything you think you know about this story is not what you think. Maurizi brilliantly tells the real story of what happened with WikiLeaks and the powers that went out to destroy it' -- John Goetz, Editor of Investigations at German State Broadcaster 'NDR''The best possible tribute to Julian Assange's sacrifice on behalf of Western citizens whose governments have been committing, in their name, crimes against humanity. Stefania Maurizi has sacrificed much to write this book, making it a book to read, behold and promote to anyone who cares about the truth' -- Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics at the University of Athens'An exceptional book by an exceptional journalist. Written like a political thriller, 'Secret Power' is not only one of the best accounts of the WikiLeaks revolution and the man behind it. It's also a deeply disturbing investigation into the military-intelligence complex and secret power determined to dismantle the last strongholds of democracy, namely freedom of the press' -- Srecko Horvat, philosopher and author of 'Poetry from the Future''The story of the aftermath of the biggest story in journalism in generations brilliantly laid out by Maurizi. A must read for everyone interested in finding out how democratic and free, the 'free and democratic west' indeed is.' -- Helgi Seljan, investigative journalist at 'Stundin''A gripping first-hand account of the Assange affair' -- Gavin Jones, senior Reuters correspondent in Rome‘Superb’ -- Thomas A. Drake, whistleblower and former senior executive of the National Security Agency'Masterful…Maurizi has very likely produced the definitive version of the WikiLeaks story, and it’s a page-turner to boot' -- Chip Gibbons, ‘Jacobin’Table of ContentsForeword by Ken Loach Introduction: The Man Who Stood Up to Secret Power 1. The Wikileaks Revolution 2. The Exceptional Courage of Chelsea Manning 3. Afghanistan: The Faraway War 4. The Cypherpunk 5. A Database from Hell: the Iraq War Logs 6. Rattling Power at the Highest Levels: Cablegate 7. Guantanamo: The Black Hole of Civilisation 8. "The Huffington Post gang is driving me nuts" 9. From Sweden to Ecuador 10. No Place for Protection 11. My Trench Warfare to Unearth the Truth 12. Arbitrarily Detained 13. A Russian Connection? 14. The Fury of the CIA 15. Under Siege 16. The Final Attempts 17. In the Would-be Guantanamo 18. 175 Years for the Crime of Journalism 19. Only Kafka 20. A Monstrous Injustice 21. Secret Power Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisCatha Paquette is Professor of Art History at California State University, Long Beach, USA. She is the author of At the Crossroads: Diego Rivera and His Patrons at MoMA, Rockefeller Center, and the Palace of Fine Arts (2017). In essays published in and outside the US, she has investigated production and reception of Latin American art in Latin America and the US, including promotion, circulation, and acquisition by collectors, public agencies, and private institutions.Karen L. Kleinfelder is Professor of Art History at California State University, Long Beach, USA. She is the author of The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze: Picasso's Pursuit of the Model (1993) and has been published in the exhibition catalogues Picasso: Inside the Image (1995) and Picasso and the Mediterranean (1996). As a specialist in modern and contemporary art and theory, her research interests focus on gender, psychoanalysis, and complexity theory.<Trade ReviewThis is a useful and complex book, an anthology that potently demystifies a broad array of recent histories of truly much more than censorship: in this volume, its range of contributors seek to interrogate, understand, and explain marginalization itself: of artists, of artworks, of underrepresented vantage points and histories, all jockeying for visibility within the often-unjust, market-driven heteropatriarchy that is the contemporary art world. * Jenni Sorkin, Associate Professor, History of Art & Architecture, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, and author of Art in California. *Table of ContentsList of Plates List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction, Catha Paquette (California State University Long Beach, USA), Karen Kleinfelder (California State University Long Beach, USA), and Christopher Miles (Independent Scholar, USA) PART I. DEADLY SERIOUS 1. Subjugated Knowledges, Revisionist Histories, and the Problem of Visibility: Carrie Mae Weems and Ken Gonzales-Day, Nizan Shaked (California State University Long Beach, USA) 2. Damage Control: Teresa Margolles, the Mexican Government, and the 2009 Venice Biennale Mexican Pavilion, Ana Garduño (National Institute for Fine Arts, Mexico) 3. Death Matters, Kerstin Mey (University of Limerick, Ireland) PART II. THE SEXUAL (IN)SIGHT 4. Art/Obscenity in West German Experimental Film, 1968-1972: Circulating through the Debates, Megan Hoetger (University of California, Berkeley, USA) 5. Impossible to Image: Art & Sexual Violence, 1975–1979, Angelique Szymanek (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA) 6. De-Shaming Shame, John Fleck (Actor and Performance Artist, USA) in Conversation with Kevin Duffy (Film Director, USA) 7. Only the Stupid Are Overt: Covert Censorship in the American Museum, Jonathan D. Katz (University of Pennyslvania, USA) PART III. UNDER DELIBERATION: ARTFUL ACTIVISM 8. Tucumán Arde and the Changing Face of Censorship, Fabián Cereijido (Independent Scholar, USA) 9. The Discursive Roots of Censorship: Neoliberalism’s Rendering of Chican@ Art, Karen Mary Davalos (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA) 10. Tools and Obstacles, Daniel Joseph Martínez (University of California, Irvine, USA) and Carol A. Wells (Independent Scholar, USA) in Conversation with Nizan Shaked (California State University Long Beach, USA) 11. Remaining in Sight: Andrea Bowers’ Art Lessons from Activists, Peter R. Kalb (Brandeis University, USA) PART IV. FRAMED: INSTITUTIONAL AND GOVERNMENTAL CONSTRAINTS 12. In and Out of Sites: Disability and Access in the Work of Park McArthur and Carmen Papalia, Elizabeth Guffey (Purchase College, USA) 13. Culture, State, and Revolution: Arts Wars between Religious and Secular Autocracies in Post-Revolution Egypt, Sonali Pahwa (University of Minnesota, USA) and Jessica Winegar (Northwestern University, USA) 14. Knowing/Caring, Ai Weiwei (Artist and Activist) and Alexandra Munroe in Conversation (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, USA) PART V. CONTESTED OBJECTS: (RE)PRESENTING CULTURAL HERITAGE 15. Re-Indigenizing Native Space in a University Context, Craig Stone (California State University Long Beach, USA) 16. African Cultural Heritage: Erasure, Restitution and Digital Image Regimes, Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) 17. Censorship and Creative (Re)Production, Morehshin Allahyari (Artist and Activist, USA) in Conversation with Brittany Ransom (California State University Long Beach, USA) PART VI. MATTERS OF RACE 18. Provocation and Valuation Our Compliance and September 2015 Letter to The Spectrum, Ashley Powell (Artist and Activist, USA) Black Judge Takes the Stand: April 2016 Response, Kara Walker (Artist, USA) 2019 Reflections, Ashley Powell (Artist and Activist, USA) 19. Presentation/Representation: Creative Expression, Speech Rights, and Pedagogy, Jane Conoley (California State University Long Beach, USA), Maulana Karenga (California State University Long Beach, USA), Karen Kleinfelder (California State University Long Beach, USA), Cyrus Parker-Jeannette (Dancer/Choreographer, USA), Michele Roberge (Independent Scholar, USA), Elena Roznovan (Artist, USA) and Cintia Alejandra Segovia (Photographer, USA), Griselda Suarez (Long Beach Arts Council, USA), Andrew Vaca (California State University Long Beach, USA), Jaye Austin Williams (Bucknell University, USA), Terri Yamada (California State University Long Beach, USA) Afterwords, Svetlana Mintcheva (National Coalition Against Censorship, USA) and Laura Raicovitch (Independent Scholar, USA) in Conversation List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisIn this first full-length study on the topic, Matthew Hunt—with access to rare and controversial films—provides a history of film censorship in Thailand. Hunt outlines its beginnings in the country, when films were censored by the police for political and ideological reasons, rather than on the basis of taste and decency, to the present when issues such as politics, religion, and sex are the main reasons films are banned. He also examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects and how their films have been censored as a result. Hunt presents interviews with ten leading directors, including conversations with Thai New Wave veterans Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. In these interviews, the directors discuss their most controversial films, which range from mainstream studio movies to independent arthouse releases, and explain their responses to censorship.Trade Review"Thais and Thailand watchers will recognise the bigger story, an all-too-common narrative arc streaked with moments of fear, absurdity and humour, in Hunt’s lingering closeups on the mangled, hidden wreckage of film censorship." * ArtReview *"Thai Cinema Uncensored...is a work of resistance against the censors. It describes in detail the struggle of filmmakers to work around inconsistent censorship rules. Matthew Hunt writes with a sense of urgency to legitimize these films and work towards a future where Thai filmmakers make the films they want without having to worry if people will be able to watch them. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of Thai films and the history that has shaped them." * International Examiner *

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Book SynopsisA collection of quotes that demonstrates the simplicity of the author's thoughts on key aspects of his art, politics, and life. It is organized into six categories: freedom of expression; art and activism; government, power, and moral choices; the digital world; history, the historical moment, and the future; and personal reflections.Trade ReviewOne of The Village Voice's Favorite Books for 2012 One of Big Think's Best Art Books of 2012 One of Huffington Post's Best Art Books for 2012, List of the 50 Greatest Creative Publications "Warsh has collected statements from Weiwei on topics ranging from technology to Twitter, freedom of speech to the power of action, and creativity to morality. Although loosely divided into chapters, the book and its brief but powerful quotations all reference back to humanity and the rights of all its members. Unfailingly pithy and refreshingly modest, the book reads quickly and conversationally. Inspirational through its simplicity and generating feelings of complicity, Weiwei succeeds in creating obsessed readers and his desire for obsessed citizens, in China and the world at large, cannot be far behind."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[H]ere is a man who understands how to get messages to people. His expertise in artful dissemination is the 21st-century equivalent of Andy Warhol's brilliant populism... [E]pigrammatic, pungent, uncompromising."--Peter Aspden, Financial Times "Physically Weiwei-isms is a black, small hardbound book, fitting nicely into a jacket pocket and meant to be carried around, perused at chance moments and ruminated on. It knowingly bears a resemblance to the little red books that were given out by Chairman Mao in order to popularize his philosophies to his subjects. Yet, brainwashing is not the dastardly attempt of the author this time; it is more akin to brain-widening. Take a look for yourself. I feel safe in saying that some statement, one of his turns of phrase, will hit you like a punch in the gut, likely leaving an emotional bruise that will take great time and thought to recover from."--Luke Goldstein, Blogcritics "If it's even possible to put a whole person into your pocket, Weiwei-isms comes close... Unlike The Little Red Book, carrying Weiwei-isms isn't compulsory, but you'll find yourself compelled to read it again and again and fit it into your head and heart, if not your pocket."--Bob Duggan, Big Think "For those who have been moved by his struggles with the Chinese authorities, who admire his art or dance along to his irreverent interpretation of Psy's 'Gangnam Style', taken up by artists and museums across the world on YouTube, Ai Weiwei's little book of sayings is for you."--Sarah Greenberg, Editor of RA Magazine "This little book collects Ai's aphorisms, or 'Weiwei-isms,' distilled thoughts culled from Ai's writings, interviews, and Twitter posts on freedom of expression, human rights, art and activism, power and the government, and moral choices... As brilliant and serious as Ai is, he is also companionable and uplifting."--Booklist "Although this book, a collection of quotes from Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, is only four by five inches in dimension, it contains powerful and dangerous ideas. Powerful for general readers: 'Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.' And dangerous to China's leaders: 'The people who control culture in China have no culture.' Chinese authorities have beaten and jailed Ai, destroyed his studio, and threatened his loved ones because he won't stop denouncing government oppression. Buy this book to keep his brave words alive, since, as he points out, 'The government computer has one button: delete.'"--R.C. Baker, Village Voice "PERFECT FOR: Dissidents-in-training, Ai fans and anyone with a Twitter handle."--Huffington Post "His quotations, collected from his own writings, interviews and Tweets, offer musings on art, politics and Chinese life. They also show us the man himself: uncompromising, upfront, amusing, and charismatic, with an often wicked sense of humour."--Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, The Independent "The little black book of Weiwei-isms packs a serious, pensive punch."--Karen Day, Cool Hunting "Don't let the size fool you. Ai Weiwei's 'little black book' will leave a lasting impression."--Sylvia Tsai, ArtAsiaPacific "This wonderful little book of memorable quotes from the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei--culled from his numerous videos and posts on his blog and Twitter--encourages us to accept the challenges of life and to use our time on this earth to stand up for human rights and a better life for all."--John May, Generalist "Weiwei-isms is not another trite collection of quotes gathered for the casual reader. From a man who admonishes 'Say what you need to say plainly, and then take responsibility for it' comes this short, frank, and thoughtful collection that does just that."--Michael Abatemarco, Pasatiempo, New MexicanTable of ContentsIntroduction vii On Freedom of Expression 1 On Art and Activism 23 On Government, Power, and Making Moral Choices 39 On the Digital World 69 On History, the Historical Moment,and the Future 77 Personal Reflections 91 Sources 103 Chronology 117 Acknowledgments 127

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A History Today Book of the Year""A fascinating study of censorship in modern Britain"---Hannah Rose Woods, History Today"A Matter of Obscenity: The Politics of Censorship in Modern England refashions developments in the law into a lucid and engaging cultural history."---Thomas J. Sojka, Los Angeles Review of Books"The description of obscenity trials famous and less well-known is superbly rendered, as is Hilliard’s analysis of the ever-changing link between social morality and the law"---Matthew D’Ancona, Tortoise Media"A Matter of Obscenity is an informative, even-handed and lucid study of British censorship in the 20th century. It is highly recommended, wherever you draw your personal lines regarding the division between the acceptable and unacceptable."---Alexander Adams, Spiked"Christopher Hilliard’s A Matter of Obscenity is an engaging read, full of compelling details about the authors and publishers accused of trafficking in obscenity and about the politicians and judges who claimed to know it when they saw it"---Emily Rutherford, History Today"Hilliard offers a fascinating romp through pornography, gangster comics, naughty postcards, avant garde plays, lewd cinema and modernist literature to demonstrate how ‘obscenity law reflected uncertainties about what could be said – and, crucially, how and to whom – in a changing society"---Alecia Simmonds, Literature and History

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Book SynopsisFrom Yale professor and bestselling author of How Fascism Works, a searing confrontation with the authoritarian right's attacks to undo a century of work to advance social justice action on race, gender, sexuality and class. Combining historical research with an in-depth analysis of our modern political landscape, Erasing History issues a dire warning for the world: the worst fascist movements of humanity's past began in schools; the same place so many of today's right-wing political parties have trained their most vicious attacks. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recip Erdogan, and Argentina's Javier Milei have all reached the same conclusion: if you want to roll back the clock on civil rights, equity and inclusion, a great place to start is in schools. Yale professor Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the right's tactics and traces their inspirations and funding back to some of the most dangerous ideas of human history. He shows that hearts and minds are won in our schools and universities - and that governments are currently ill-prepared to do the work of uprooting fascist policies being foisted upon our children through school boards, in courtrooms, and in the boardrooms of the organisations trusted to train teachers and create the materials they'll share with their students. Deeply informed and urgently needed, this book is a vibrant call to action for lovers of democracy worldwide.

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Book SynopsisFilm Censorship is a concise overview of Hollywood censorship and efforts to regulate American films. Sheri Chinen Biesen unveils the behind-the-scenes history of cinema censorship and explore how Hollywood responded to censorial constraints on screen content in a changing cultural and industrial landscape.Trade ReviewAlthough most introductory textbooks touch upon the broader subject, with a short gloss of the Production Code Administration (PCA), there’s never been a handy guide or a more thorough treatment until now, with Sheri Chinen Biesen’s expertly researched, amply illustrated, and wonderfully concise primer Film Censorship: Regulating America’s Screen. . . . Film Censorship fills an important gap and is sure to provide a vital resource for students and readers eager to immerse themselves in this fascinating and equally fraught subject. -- Noah Isenberg * Film Quarterly *[A] thoroughly researched introduction to American film censorship. -- Katherine Waters * Times Literary Supplement *Through original and rich case studies, this volume explores the authorship, power and organization of censorship in compelling ways. Enormously valuable. -- Ellen Scott, University of California, Los AngelesThis impressive, concise, readable book should become a standard in university classrooms that teach American film culture. . . . Essential. * Choice *Students of film censorship should learn about this crucial legal component of the regulation of American screens. * Journal of American History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Pre-Code Era2. Enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code3. Post-war Developments4. Pushing the Envelope: The Demise of Code CensorshipEpilogue: The Post-PCA Legacy of CensorshipNotesAppendixBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA leading Democrat challenges his party to return to liberal values and evidence-based scienceDemocrats were the party of intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and faith in scientific and liberal empiricism. They once took pride in understanding how to read science critically, exercising healthy skepticism toward notoriously corrupt entities like the drug companies that brought us the opioid crisis, and were outraged by the phenomenon of “agency capture” and the pervasive control of private interests over Congress, the media, and the scientific journals.During the COVID pandemic, these attitudes have taken a back seat to blind faith in government mandates and countermeasures driven by pharmaceutical companies and captive federal agencies, promoted by corporate media, and cynically exploiting the fears of the American people.A Letter to Liberals is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, challenge to “lockdown liberalism’s” embrace of policies that are an affront to once cherished precepts.Kennedy invites readers to look at the data in order to answer questions such as: Did COVID vaccines really save millions and end the pandemic? Why were the lowest COVID death rates in countries and states that relied on therapeutic drugs, and in countries with the lowest vaccination rates? Did vaccines prevent infection or transmission as officials promised? Why do COVID vaccines appear to show “negative efficacy”—making the vaccinated more susceptible to COVID. Why does the most reliable data suggest that COVID vaccines do not lower the risk of death and hospitalization. Should government technocrats be partnering with media and social media titans to censor and suppress the questioning of government policies? And why have so many liberals abandoned fundamental Constitutional principles in their headlong rush to embrace pandemic policies pushed by captured bureaucrats, feckless politicians, a compromised news media, and Big Pharma? In his November 2021 book The Real Anthony Fauci, which sold over 1,000,000 copies, Kennedy made predictions that have matured from “conspiracy theories” to proven facts. Among these: Masks Are Ineffective and Dangerous Social Distancing Was Not Science-Based School Closures Were Not Science-Based Lockdowns Were Counterproductive Vaccinating Children Causes More Harm and Death Than It Averts Officials Wrongly Used PCR Tests to Justify the Countermeasures COVID-19 May Have Come from Wuhan Lab Natural Immunity is Superior to Vaccine Immunity Kennedy throws down the gauntlet for the kind of vigorous scientific debate that liberals have long stood for and strives to ensure that unbiased honesty and well-researched thought is brought to bear on one of the most important and still unfolding chapters in human history.

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Book Synopsis...Clifford is a talented storyteller who has met some of Hong Kong's quirkier personalities. -- Peter Baehr, Times Literary SupplementTrade ReviewPowerful, comprehensive and poignant, this book offers a truthful and balanced overview of events in Hong Kong over the past three decades or more. As someone who has lived and breathed much of what Mark Clifford writes, I identify with it and endorse it totally. If you want to understand Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party and the threat to freedom itself, you must make it a top priority to read this book -- Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong WatchGripping and powerfully written … Tells us much about the growing threat China's top leaders pose to global freedoms … Clifford pulls in the reader through a vivid account of Hong Kong's history and on-the-ground reporting on the students, business tycoons and politicians central to this disturbing drama … He taps into his deep experience running Hong Kong's top English language newspaper, directing the business association representing the region's most powerful companies, his close contacts with senior Hong Kong officials, and his crucial role as a director for Hong Kong's once most independent media company, whose destruction is central to this modern tragedy. Clifford, who has spent most of his adult life in Hong Kong, is uniquely suited to tell this sad story ... A must-read account on the ongoing destruction of Hong Kong and why it matters to the world -- Dexter Roberts, author of The Myth of Chinese CapitalismMark Clifford has written a riveting and passionate account of China's attack on Hong Kong and its broader implications. Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World parts the curtains on what every informed citizen should know and be thinking about -- Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean Emeritus, Yale School of ManagementThe world has usually viewed Hong Kong as either a last gasp of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European colonialism or, more recently, as a buzzing beehive of modern capitalism. Neither image captures the surprising phenomenon that Mark Clifford details in this masterly study. Hong Kong has now become a front line in the worldwide quest for human freedom. Pursuit of it has spouted like a geyser from Hong Kong wellsprings that are located neither in national pride nor in appetite for lucre but in human nature itself – in the desire to be master of one's own life. The Communist Party of China's repression of Hong Kong is both fierce and unscrupulous, and the world ignores this stand-off at its peril. As Václav Havel has taught us, an assault on human dignity anywhere is an assault on it everywhere -- Perry Link, author of An Anatomy of Chinese

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a timely and diverse cross-section of frequently targeted titles, complete with many quotes and comments from authors whose works have been challenged, this book will be an important tool for library managers, children's and YA librarians, and teachers.

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Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, ranging from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood.[A] stunning look at the power of reading. ... Provokes and inspires at every turn. —Publishers Weekly (starred review)Remarkable. ... Audacious. —The ProgressiveStunningly beautiful and perceptive. —Los Angeles Review of BooksWhat is the role of literature in an era when one political party wages continual war on writers and the press? What is the connection between political strife in our daily lives, and the way we meet our enemies on the page in fiction? How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics?In this galvanizing guide to literature as resistance, Nafisi seeks to answer these questions. Drawing on her experiences as a woman and voracious reader living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, her life as an immigrant in the United States, and her role as literature professor in both countries, she crafts an argument for why, in a genuine democracy, we must engage with the enemy, and how literature can be a vehicle for doing so.Structured as a series of letters to her father, who taught her as a child about how literature can rescue us in times of trauma, Nafisi explores the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, and more. 

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Book SynopsisFree Expression and Democracy takes on the assumption that limits on free expression will lead to authoritarianism or at least a weakening of democracy. That hypothesis is tested by an examination of issues involving expression and their treatment in countries included on The Economist''s list of fully functioning democracies. Generally speaking, other countries allow prohibitions on hate speech, limits on third-party spending on elections, and the protection of children from media influences seen as harmful. Many ban Holocaust denial and the desecration of national symbols. Yet, these other countries all remain democratic, and most of those considered rank more highly than the United States on the democracy index. This book argues that while there may be other cultural values that call for more expansive protection of expression, that protection need not reach the level present in the United States in order to protect the democratic nature of a country.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments; 1. The protection of free expression in a democracy; 2. Varieties of expression; 3. Incitement of crime; 4. Hate speech; 5. Holocaust denial and other false assertions of fact; 6. Political party bans; 7. Political campaign limitations; 8. The desecration of national symbols and lèse majesté; 9. Defamation; 10. Attacks on personal honor; 11. Obscenity and child pornography; 12. Children and expression; 13. Criminal trials and freedom of the press; 14. Government secrecy; 15. A matter of choices; Index.

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Book SynopsisCensorship has been a universal phenomenon through history. However, its rationale and implementation has varied, and public reaction to it has differed across societies and times. This book recovers, narrates, and interrogates the history of censorship of publications in India over three crucial decades - encompassing the Gandhian anti-colonial movement, the Second World War, Partition, and the early years of Independent India. In doing so, it examines state policy and practice, and also its subversion, in a tumultuous period of transition from colonial to self-rule in India. Populated with an array of powerful and powerless individuals, the story of Indians grappling with free speech and (in)tolerance is a fascinating one, and deserves to be widely known. It will help readers make sense of global present-day debates over free speech and hate speech, illustrate historical trends that change - and those that don't - and help them appreciate how the past inevitably informs the present.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Guarding the State, Protecting the Public: Censorship Policies and Practices in the 1930s: 1. The power of print; 2. Provincial autonomy (1937–1939) and free speech controversies; Part II. Protests and Publicity: Banning Non-Indian Authors: 3. Critiques of Indian society: Katherine Mayo's Long Shadow; 4. 'Hurt' or 'hatred'? Publications by non-Indians offensive to Indian Muslims; Part III. Political or Military? Censorship in India during the Second World War: 5. Blue pencils, red pencils: censoring the news in wartime; 6. A contradiction in terms? 'Voluntary censorship'; Part IV. The Censored Turn Censors: Freedom and Free Speech: 7. Free speech or hate speech? Partition and censorship; 8. 'An education in realism': The first amendment to the Indian Constitution; 9. The living biographies of religious leaders controversy (1956); Conclusion; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisFifty years after the event, here is the first full account of an audacious publishing decision that — with the help of booksellers and readers around the country — forced the end of literary censorship in Australia. For more than seventy years, a succession of politicians, judges, and government officials in Australia worked in the shadows to enforce one of the most pervasive and conservative regimes of censorship in the world. The goal was simple: to keep Australia free of the moral contamination of impure literature. Under the censorship regime, books that might damage the morals of the Australian public were banned, seized, and burned; bookstores were raided; publishers were fined; and writers were charged and even jailed. But in the 1970s, that all changed. In 1970, in great secrecy and at considerable risk, Penguin Books Australia resolved to publish Portnoy’s Complaint — Philip Roth’s frank, funny, and profane bestseller about a boy hung up about his mother and his penis. In doing so, Penguin spurred a direct confrontation with the censorship authorities, which culminated in criminal charges, police raids, and an unprecedented series of court trials across the country. Sweeping from the cabinet room to the courtroom, The Trials of Portnoy draws on archival records and new interviews to show how Penguin and a band of writers, booksellers, academics, and lawyers determinedly sought for Australians the freedom to read what they wished — and how, in defeating the forces arrayed before them, they reshaped Australian literature and culture forever.Trade Review‘Anyone interested in Australian history, politics and books generally will find much food for thought in this entertaining, well-researched and carefully written history.’ -- Julia Taylor * Books+Publishing *‘The finely detailed story of the legal fight in Australia against the censorship of Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint.’ -- Sean O’Beirne * The Monthly *‘Mullins’s compelling account of these last days of the old censorship regime skilfully draws on a rich range of sources, including interviews with many of the key figures involved. He gives an insight not just into how the system operated and the politics involved, but also into a significant cultural moment in Australia.’ -- Amanda Laugesen * Inside Story *‘Mullins has applied his skills in thorough research, forensic examination of evidence and a light wit to the numerous trials in different States which, in 1970-71, determined whether sales of Portnoy’s Complaint should be permitted in Australia.’ -- Mark Thomas * The Canberra Times *‘[A] literary detective story with a difference.’ -- Craig Munro * The Australian *‘The Trials of Portnoy, tells the true story of how Portnoy’s Complaint was declared illegal throughout the Commonwealth, and how, eventually, it became a book we were allowed to own and read … The real treat of The Trials of Portnoy though, is to see how many people were willing to stand up in court and make the always difficult argument for literature.’ -- Sean O’Beirne * The Monthly *‘The Trials of Portnoy is full of the juice and drama and hilarity of the courtroom … Patrick Mullins has written an utterly diverting account of a bit of ancient Australian literary history … superb.’ -- Peter Craven * The Saturday Paper *‘Patrick Mullins’ latest effort provides the most detailed account yet of this embarrassing moment in our inglorious history.’ -- Chris Dite * Readings *‘[A] wonderful account of how a group of brave publishers, booksellers and academics brought down Australia’s ridiculous censorship regime.’ -- Barry Reynolds * Herald Sun *‘Mullins draws on his skills as an academic and writer to give an extraordinary rundown on these trials … [The Trials of Portnoy] could well become the ultimate academic guide to the changes to censorship in Australia.’ -- Fiona Myers * The Weekly Times *‘An illuminating tale about book censorship in Australia … Publishers and bookstores are the heroes in this … entertaining account of a ‘hard-won’ battle.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Patrick Mullins gives us a useful litany of the blow by blow progress of those cases that came to court.’ -- Sue Rabbitt Roff * Pearls and Irritations *Praise for Tiberius with a Telephone ‘This is, as others have remarked, biography at its best: diligently researched, with detail nowhere else examined, and a demonstration of fine judgement concerning the crucial interplay between personal disposition, role demands, and historical context.’ -- James Walter * Australian Book Review *Praise for Tiberius with a Telephone ‘A welcome addition to prime ministerial biography … An engaging and informative read.’ -- Troy Bramston * The Australian *Praise for Tiberius with a Telephone ‘This is the most detailed investigation and explanation of what happened … Completing a biography of this scope is an enormous undertaking, and Patrick Mullins does it with considerable skill … Mullins conveys the turmoil, the atmosphere of crisis, the bickering and the bloodletting that marked this extraordinary period of Australian political history.’ -- David Solomon * Inside Story *‘With The Trials of Portnoy, Mullins has further established himself as a first-rate historical storyteller and considerably strengthened our understanding of the history of censorship in Australia.’ -- Nathan Hollier * Australian Historical Studies *

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when we can’t joke about some of the most important stuff in life?In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most. Those people should probably not read this book in public.In You Can’t Joke About That, Kat Timpf shows why much of the way we talk about sensitive subjects is wrong. We’ve created all the wrong rules. We push ourselves into unnecessary conflicts when we should feel like we’re all in this together. When someone says “you can’t joke about that,” what they really mean is “this is a subject that makes people sad or angry.”Hilariously and movingly, Timpf argues that those subjects are actually the most important to joke about. She shows us we can find healing through humor regarding things you probably don''t want to bring up in polite conversation, like traumatic break-ups, cancer, being broke, Dave Chappelle, rape jokes, aging, ostomy bags, religion, body image, dead moms, religion, the lab leak theory, transgender swimmers, gushing wounds, campus censorship, and bad Christmas presents.  This book is Kat Timpf with her hair down, except since hers is mostly extensions, this book is Kat Timpf with her hair out. Read it because you want to get to know her better. Read it because it’s the best book on free speech and comedy in a generation. Read it because you want to laugh out loud… even at the kind of stuff we’re afraid to say out loud. Just read it, and you’ll be glad you did.

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Trade ReviewThe first comprehensive study of its kind. * Qantara *The author does justice to a subject often mentioned, yet rarely studied. * Abstracta Iranica *Table of Contents1. A Brief History of Censorship in Iran from the Early Days of the Press until the 1979 Revolution 2. Laws, Theories and Policies of Censorship in the Islamic Republic of Iran 3. The Censor Machine: Strcuture and Mechanism, Operators, Changes and Variations 4. Censors at Work 5. Reward and Punishment: Different Tools for the Same End 6. How Do Writers and Poets React to Censorship? 7. How Is Censorship Affecting Iranian Literature? 8. Conclusion Notes and References Bibliography Index

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