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Cover of That Book Is Dangerous!

That Book Is Dangerous!

by Adam Szetela

Book Details

Publisher:MIT Press
Published:2025-08-12
Pages:283
Format:BOOK
Language:en
ISBN:9780262383936

Reading Info

About This Book

An alarming exposé of the new challenges to literary freedom in the age of social media—when anyone with an identity and an internet connection can be a censor. In That Book Is Dangerous!, Adam Szetela investigates how well-intentioned and often successful efforts to diversify American literature have also produced serious problems for literary freedom. Although progressives are correct to be focused on right-wing attempts at legislative censorship, Szetela argues for attention to the ways that

Our Review

This timely investigation exposes how modern censorship has evolved beyond traditional book bans into a complex ecosystem of digital outrage and social media pressure. Adam Szetela meticulously documents how well-intentioned diversity efforts in publishing have unintentionally created new threats to literary freedom, arguing that progressive communities should examine their own role in suppressing controversial voices alongside fighting right-wing legislative censorship.

What makes this analysis particularly compelling is its balanced approach to a polarized topic, acknowledging the importance of diverse representation while demonstrating how fear of online backlash is reshaping what gets published and promoted. Readers concerned about free expression in the digital age will find this an essential examination of how anyone with an internet connection can now influence literary culture, potentially limiting the very diversity advocates seek to achieve.

Themes

Social Science

Subjects

Social Science