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The War on Science
Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process
Published by Post Hill Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
An unparalleled group of prominent scholars from wide-ranging disciplines detail ongoing efforts to impose ideological restrictions on science and scholarship throughout western society.
From assaults on merit-based hiring to the policing of language and replacing well-established, disciplinary scholarship by ideological mantras, current science and scholarship is under threat throughout western institutions. As this group of prominent scholars ranging across many different disciplines and political leanings detail, the very future of free inquiry and scientific progress is at risk. Many who have spoken up against this threat have lost their positions, and a climate of fear has arisen that strikes at the heart of modern education and research. Banding together to finally speak out, this brave and unprecedented group of scholars issues a clarion call for change.
Topics include: Free speech, victimhood, ideology, corruption of academic disciplines, cancel culture, DEI, gender, and race, and what we can do.
“Higher education isn’t what it used to be. Cancel Culture and DEI have caused many to keep their mouths shut. Not so the authors of this book. This collection of essays tells of threats to open inquiry, free speech, and the scientific process itself. A much-needed book.”—Sabine Hossenfelder, Physicist and Author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
With Contributions by:
Dorian Abbot, John Armstrong, Peter Boghossian, Maarten Boudry, Alex Byrne, Nicholas Christakis, Roger Cohen, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Janice Fiamengo, Solveig Gold, Moti Gorin, Karleen Gribble, Carole Hooven, Geoff Horsman, Joshua Katz, Sergiu Klainerman, Lawrence M. Krauss, Anna Krylov, Luana Maroja, Christian Ott, Bruce Pardy, Jordan Peterson, Steven Pinker, Richard Redding, Arthur Rousseau, Gad Saad, Sally Satel, Lauren Schwartz, Alan Sokal, Allesandro Strumia, Judith Suissa, Alice Sullivan, Jay Tanzman, Abigail Thompson, Amy Wax, Elizabeth Weiss, Frances Widdowson
From assaults on merit-based hiring to the policing of language and replacing well-established, disciplinary scholarship by ideological mantras, current science and scholarship is under threat throughout western institutions. As this group of prominent scholars ranging across many different disciplines and political leanings detail, the very future of free inquiry and scientific progress is at risk. Many who have spoken up against this threat have lost their positions, and a climate of fear has arisen that strikes at the heart of modern education and research. Banding together to finally speak out, this brave and unprecedented group of scholars issues a clarion call for change.
Topics include: Free speech, victimhood, ideology, corruption of academic disciplines, cancel culture, DEI, gender, and race, and what we can do.
“Higher education isn’t what it used to be. Cancel Culture and DEI have caused many to keep their mouths shut. Not so the authors of this book. This collection of essays tells of threats to open inquiry, free speech, and the scientific process itself. A much-needed book.”—Sabine Hossenfelder, Physicist and Author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
With Contributions by:
Dorian Abbot, John Armstrong, Peter Boghossian, Maarten Boudry, Alex Byrne, Nicholas Christakis, Roger Cohen, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Janice Fiamengo, Solveig Gold, Moti Gorin, Karleen Gribble, Carole Hooven, Geoff Horsman, Joshua Katz, Sergiu Klainerman, Lawrence M. Krauss, Anna Krylov, Luana Maroja, Christian Ott, Bruce Pardy, Jordan Peterson, Steven Pinker, Richard Redding, Arthur Rousseau, Gad Saad, Sally Satel, Lauren Schwartz, Alan Sokal, Allesandro Strumia, Judith Suissa, Alice Sullivan, Jay Tanzman, Abigail Thompson, Amy Wax, Elizabeth Weiss, Frances Widdowson
Product Details
- Publisher: Post Hill Press (July 29, 2025)
- Length: 484 pages
- ISBN13: 9798888457566
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Raves and Reviews
"Higher education isn’t what it used to be. Cancel Culture and DEI have caused many to keep their mouths shut. Not so the authors of this book. This collection of essays tells of threats to open inquiry, free speech, and the scientific process itself. A much-needed book."
– Sabine Hossenfelder, Physicist and Author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
"Provocative, impassioned, and often personal, these essays by a starry cast of scholars offer vivid views of the most disturbing trend in academia today: the distortion of science by activists who put their idiosyncratic notions of social justice ahead of truth. Biology, medicine, and even math—not just the humanities and social sciences—are falling prey to DEI, decolonization, and de-sexed language. Not only does The War on Science elucidate the problem, it also models the solution: recommitment to scientific objectivity, scholarly integrity, and—above all—humility in the search for knowledge."
– Jonathan Rauch, Author of The Constitution of Knowledge
"The encroachment of ideology and groupthink on the production of knowledge may sound abstract, but it has a profound effect on every single aspect of life in the world today. The War on Science is an absolutely crucial response to this dangerous trend."
– Greg Lukianoff, President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Author of Unlearning Liberty and Co-Author of The Coddling of the American Mind and The Canceling of the Am
"There may be no more perverse irony of history: The civilization that created the scientific method and that shared its fruits with all of humanity is now hell bent on destroying its creation. The destruction is coming from within science itself—perpetrated by ideologues, and abetted by administrators and scientists too cowardly to defend this greatest of intellectual accomplishments. With the publication of The War on Science, no university bureaucrat will be able to dismiss the anti-science crusade as just a ‘right-wing’ chimera. The War on Science marshals evidence from every corner of the scientific world to document the corruption of truth-seeking in favor of political fads. Its illustrious authors have defied censorship and vilification. If the authors’ peers gain the courage from this book to join the rebellion against enforced lies, there will yet be hope to salvage the scientific enterprise in the place of its birth."
– Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Author of When Race Trumps Merit
"This book is a clarion call. Woke imperialism, the new oppressor, steamrolls over religion, culture, customs, language, and reason, constructing a Tower of Babel where science isn’t just sidelined—it’s sent to DIE. We’re at DEFCON 1, alarms blaring as ideological spaghetti soldiers emerge from our universities, infiltrating all industries from aviation to medical and dismantling excellence with copypasta in the name of equity. The stakes are high: our future is on the line."
– Cyan Banister, Co-Founder and General Partner of Long Journey Ventures, Tech Investor (Uber, SpaceX, Anduril)
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