Win A Copy Of "Dangerous Ideas: A Brief History of Censorship in the West, from the Ancients to Fake News" By Eric Berkowitz

A timely book!

Got a very exciting book to give away today. But first...

What You’ve Missed If You’re Not A Premium Singal-Minded Subscriber

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Knowledge Will Out, But In The Meantime Politically Motivated Attempts To Suppress It Can Cause A Lot Of Harm - An essay, drawing from two new books, about the harms of science denialism with regard to biologically-based sex differences and the causal role genes play in determining societally important outcomes.

Win A Copy Of “Dangerous Ideas: A Brief History of Censorship in the West, from the Ancients to Fake News” by Eric Berkowitz

I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to the books piled up in my apartment that I haven’t had a chance to crack open yet, but I’m very excited about this one.

From the publisher:

A fascinating examination of how restricting speech has continuously shaped our culture, and how censorship is used as a tool to prop up authorities and maintain class and gender disparities

Through compelling narrative, historian Eric Berkowitz reveals how drastically censorship has shaped our modern society. More than just a history of censorship, Dangerous Ideas illuminates the power of restricting speech; how it has defined states, ideas, and culture; and (despite how each of us would like to believe otherwise) how it is something we all participate in.

This engaging cultural history of censorship and thought suppression throughout the ages takes readers from the first Chinese emperor’s wholesale elimination of books, to Henry VIII’s decree of death for anyone who “imagined” his demise, and on to the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the volatile politics surrounding censorship of social media.

Highlighting the base impulses driving many famous acts of suppression, Berkowitz demonstrates the fragility of power and how every individual can act as both the suppressor and the suppressed.

Yes please! I have three copies to give away, courtesy of Beacon Press: two to anyone who is at least a free subscriber, and one to a paid subscriber. Paid subscribers, as alway, have an extra chance to win books when I give them away.

Send an email with the subject line ‘censorship’ to singalminded@gmail.com. I’ll include any entries I get by the end of the day on Thursday, September 2nd (Eastern). If you don’t follow those directions exactly I can’t guarantee your entry will be, well, entered! (You’d be surprised how many people don’t.)

Here’s to a good September, everyone.