Why bother refuting your opponents, when you can simply take away their platform or their career?

First Amendment attorney Greg Lukianoff collaborates with Ricky Schlott to show how the trend of intolerance on American college campuses has spread to a wide range of workplaces and cultural spaces, abandoning free speech in favor of cancel culture. Drawing on original research and data, along with hundreds of new examples from publishing to psychotherapy, comedy, science, and medicine, this book shows how both the left and right seek to silence their enemies in different ways. It's not just Twitter squabbles; people are losing their jobs, livelihoods, and sometimes their lives because of it.

Relentless, urgent, and transformative, The Cancel American Mind argues that cancel culture is not just a moral panic, but a dysfunctional way people compete for power, status, and dominance: it distances us from the ability to debate constructively, listen generously, and ultimately be gracious when we disagree. This book offers concrete steps toward reclaiming a culture of free expression, with materials specifically designed for parents, teachers, business leaders, and all users of social media. It shows how we can all harness intellectual humility to become more resilient and open-minded.