Silencing Voices: Book Bans, Cancel Culture, and Other Forms of Censorship: ISBN 978-1-6782-1198-1 / eBook: 978-1-6782-1199-8
Booklist, November 10, 2025
This is a well-organized and timely work on free speech and the current censorship issues related to it. In five short but detailed chapters, Lerose offers an objective overview of the aspects of free speech in the U.S. and the values inherent with that right. Chapters cover the history of the First Amendment, book banning, censorship in school classrooms, regulating online speech, and battles on college campuses over free speech and cancel culture. The chapters include relevant and current examples and court cases, with quotations, statistics, charts, and sidebars with additional information. Each chapter also includes profiles of some students who defied the censors and found ways to make their voices heard in their fight against censorship. The text is separated by captioned color photographs, highlighted headings, and pullout quotes. It concludes with source notes, relevant organizations and websites, further reading, and an index. This work provides useful information that will surely help young people understand the significance of censorship and how it relates to free speech and expression.
— Sharon Rawlins
Silencing Voices: Book Bans, Cancel Culture, and Other Forms of Censorship: ISBN 978-1-6782-1198-1 / eBook: 978-1-6782-1199-8
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2025
An overview of the meaning of free speech in the context of the U.S. Constitution.
Lerose notes that “reasonable parties” may contest the application of the First Amendment in settings including schools, public libraries, social media platforms, and the press, but balancing the free expression of ideas is crucial for the maintenance of “public safety and social order.” The book concisely covers the history of the First Amendment, the vexing issue of “inflammatory or reckless” speech, and the key connection between the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Readers will find definitions of terms like libel and slander in the text. Although book challenges and bans based on “LGBTQ and racial justice issues” appear to emerge from social conservatism, Lerose avoids political labels. He identifies groups that resist censorship, like the American Library Association and PEN America. Other chapters focus on censorship of the curriculum, including a 2023 Florida directive that teachers should “frame slavery in a more positive light.” The chapter on online speech examines the impact of misinformation and disinformation on public safety, offering readers case studies such as 2024 lies about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pets, inaccuracies about Covid19, and the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol building. Lerose clearly, carefully, and thoroughly addresses many complex issues, making this work a strong starting point for those seeking to understand the nuances of this “precious right.”
An even-handed, informed discussion of divisive subjects.