CENSORSHIP

A well-organized, balanced, and up-to-date introduction to a complex topic.

Limiting her book’s scope to the U.S., Mooney explains what is not protected by “the right to free speech” (for example, sedition and incitement to violence). She discusses obscenity, defamation, and symbolic speech, reminding readers that private entities may restrict speech. A chapter on book bans features cases where increasingly organized conservative censors, targeting content about race, gender expression, and sexual orientation, frame their actions as worries over children’s innocence. She also cites liberal concerns over insensitive content in some classics. A chapter on classroom controversies describes efforts to limit discussions of divisive issues in federally funded institutions, raises questions about what “age-appropriate” means, and touches on the clash between historical complexity and these laws’ vagueness. The following chapter, “Censoring Online Speech, Misinformation, and Disinformation,” delves into the challenges of moderating content in an online environment, including how difficult it can be to determine what information is false, as attested to by changing expert opinions on the Covid-19 lab-leak theory. The final chapter considers the question of “cancel culture,” framed by some as accountability and by others as censorship; Mooney explores its potential encouragement of self-censorship and related topics. Given the work’s brevity, some important details and context are omitted, but this is an accessible overview, enhanced by photographs and useful text boxes.

Offers no easy answers but plenty of material to begin a discussion.