Best Selling Books by Greg Lukianoff

This is a surreal time for freedom of speech. While the legal protections of the First Amendment remain strong, the culture is obsessed with punishing individuals for allegedly offensive utterances. And academia - already an institution in which free speech is in decline - has grown still more intolerant, with high-profile "disinvitation" efforts against well-known speakers and demands for professors to provide "trigger warnings" in class. In this Broadside, Greg Lukianoff argues that the threats to free speech go well beyond political correctness or liberal groupthink. As global populations increasingly expect not just physical comfort but also intellectual comfort, threats to freedom of speech are only going to become more intense. To fight back, we must understand this trend and see how students and average citizens alike are increasingly demanding freedom from speech.

For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. Lukianoff walks readers through the life of a modern-day college student, from orientation to the end of freshman year. Through this lens, he describes startling violations of free speech rights: a student in Indiana punished for publicly reading a book, a student in Georgia expelled for a pro-environment collage he posted on Facebook, students at Yale banned from putting an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on a T shirt, and students across the country corralled into tiny “free speech zones” when they wanted to express their views. But Lukianoff goes further, demonstrating how this culture of censorship is bleeding into the larger society. As he explores public controversies involving Juan Williams, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Larry Summers—even Dave Barry and Jon Stewart—Lukianoff paints a stark picture of our ability as a nation to discuss important issues rationally. Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate illuminates how intolerance for dissent and debate on today’s campus threatens the freedom of every citizen and makes us all just a little bit dumber.

"A timely deep dive into cancel culture, an account of its dangers to all Americans, and the much-needed antidote from the team that brought you Coddling of the American Mind ... [Includes] hard data and research on what cancel culture is and how it works, along with hundreds of new examples showing the left and the right both working to silence their enemies ...Offers concrete steps toward reclaiming a free speech culture, with materials specifically tailored for parents, teachers, business leaders, and everyone who uses social media"

New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book • Bloomberg Best Book of 2018 • One of Bill Gates’s Top Five Books of All Time “Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities.” —Jonathan Marks, Commentary “The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen? First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life. Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction. This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

Heresy Press’s first non-fiction offering addresses free speech and creative freedom—central to the press’s mission—in the form of a concise primer of arguments against censorship. Co-authored by Greg Lukianoff and Nadine Strossen, The War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail constitutes a bulwark against attempts from both the political left and right to limit individual expression. At a time when pressures to conform threaten the exercise of viewpoint diversity and when attacks on free speech in word, print, performance, and image are a daily occurrence, we sorely need a book such as this! This handy volume is organized around 10 flawed assertions that are often invoked to limit the freedom of speech, followed by well-reasoned rebuttals of those arguments by both authors. A comprehensive introduction, updates to highlight current issues, and an appendix with helpful resources round off this volume. The writing is lively, clear, and persuasive.

Em A Infantilização da Mente Moderna, Greg Lukianoff e Jonathan Haidt investigam a ascensão da nova cultura de «segurança» nas universidades e o seu pernicioso impacto nas novas gerações. Um estranho fenómeno tomou conta dos campus universitários: se, por um lado, os estudantes ditos progressistas proíbem o discurso de professores e políticos, outros há que têm relutância em expor a sua opinião e discuti-la abertamente. Ao mesmo tempo, as taxas de ansiedade, depressão e suicídio dispararam. Greg Lukianoff e Jonathan Haidt demonstram que isso se deve a três conceitos perpetuados no sistema de educação e que os jovens acreditam ser a base para uma visão generosa e inclusiva da educação: 1. O que não nos mata torna-nos mais fracos; 2. Devemos confiar sempre nos nossos sentimentos; 3. A vida é uma batalha entre pessoas boas e pessoas más. Os autores alertam para o impacto da adopção da cultura de «segurança» nas democracias liberais prejudicando não só o desenvolvimento social, emocional e intelectual do indivíduo, mas também comprometendo a perspectiva de construção de uma vida plena e satisfatória. «Lukianoff e Haidt aperceberam-se de algo assustador e sem precedentes: uma geração incapaz de se envolver com ideias que a deixam desconfortável tem um impacto terrível na sociedade, abrindo a porta – tanto à esquerda quanto à direita – a várias formas de autoritarismo.» The New York Times Book Review Um dos melhores livros do ano The New York Times, The Financial Times e London Evening Standard

O carte-radiografie despre cum a ajuns un trend intelectual american să amenințe un drept esențial: libertatea de exprimare. Consecințele apariției unei generații de studenți incapabili să se angajeze în schimburi de idei care nu coincid cu propriul punct de vedere, pe motiv că le consideră inconfortabile, sunt grave pentru societate în ansamblu, pentru că deschid calea unor forme de totalitarism. ( The New York Times Book Review ) Intoleranța crescândă față de punctele de vedere diferite este o provocare nu numai în universități, ci și la nivelul întregului discurs politic american. ( Michael Bloomberg) Lukianoff și Haidt explică fenomenul parentingului de tip „elicopter“ și pericolele lui – modul în care protecția excesivă amplifică fricile copiilor și le diminuează șansele de a deveni independenți la maturitate. De mici, ei trebuie supuși provocărilor, inclusiv unor puncte de vedere diferite, pentru a se dezvolta ca adulți puternici. ( Susan H. McDaniel )

''Een verontrustende en uitgebreide analyse van recente trends op universiteiten. Haidt en Lukianoff merken iets ongekends en angstaanjagends op.'' – The New York Times De afgelopen jaren is er veel veranderd op de universiteiten. Sprekers wordt de mond gesnoerd, studenten en professors lopen op eieren en durven niet vrij te spreken. Angststoornissen, depressies en zelfmoorden nemen toe. Hoe is deze situatie tot stand gekomen? Jonathan Haidt en Greg Lukianoff laten in dit boek zien wat de cultuur van safe spaces aan Amerikaanse universiteiten doet met de geest van studenten. Door een sterke doorvoering van politieke correctheid wordt ons vermogen om kritisch na te denken in gevaar gebracht. De auteurs anlayseren de bedoelingen en ideeën achter deze trend en laten zien wat de effecten zijn, zowel binnen de universiteiten als op de maatschappij.