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The Canceling of the American Mind

The Canceling of the American Mind

How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All

Summary

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A new way of thinking about cancel culture and the much-needed antidote for our dangerous and divisive times


Cancel culture isn't just a moral panic: it erodes our ability to argue productively, listen generously and to be civil when we disagree. Whether on university campuses, in the workplace or on social media, it is a dysfunctional part of how individuals battle for power, status, and dominance. It's just one symptom of a much larger problem: why bother refuting your opponents, when you can just take away their platform or career?

In this book, Lukianoff and Shlott analyze the pervasive effects of cancel culture, drawing on original research and data, along with hundreds of new examples showing how the left and the right both work to silence their enemies in different ways.

Eye-opening, urgent and transformative, The Canceling of the American Mind offers concrete steps towards reclaiming a culture of free speech, with materials specifically tailored for parents, teachers, business leaders and all those who use social media. It shows how we can all harness intellectual humility to become more resilient and open minded.

©2023 Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • No one has documented the facts and causes of this alarming trend more thoroughly than Greg Lukianoff, joined here by a collaborator, Rikki Schlott
    Steven Pinker, author of Rationality

About the authors

Greg Lukianoff

Greg Lukianoff is a lawyer, First Amendment expert and President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. He is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind and the author of Unlearning Liberty and Freedom From Speech.
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Rikki Schlott

Rikki Schlott is a journalist and political commentator. She is a columnist at the New York Post and co-host of the Lost Debate podcast, as well as a former research fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
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