“In a time when political correctness has become the fundamental ideology of the progressive world, it shouldn’t be surprising if censoring any misaligned expression has become a temptation for the left-wing, while fighting against censorship has turned into an unexpected libertarian opportunity for the right. It's a mistake in both cases. Ideas and behaviors that we don’t like should be fought with other ideas and ways of being, not by preventing others from expressing themselves.” Who is afraid of freedom of expression? Paola Mastrocola and Luca Ricolfi seek the answer to a question that has insinuated itself into our lives in a dangerous way. Authoritarian censorship of the past has turned into the wildly correct, which bends the language to current trends (from innocent words being put on trial, to surreal “inclusive” neologisms), and into a cancel culture that reinterprets the past with the eyes of today. So, in the jungle of the Internet and on the global pillory that banned humor and dialogue, an intimidating and inquisitorial climate is spreading, imposed by the self-proclaimed guardians of Good. Mastrocola and Ricolfi write about it, identifying its historical causes and presenting solutions, composing a veritable manifesto to restore freedom to the oppressed language of our times.

Paola Mastrocola made her literary debut with the novel La gallina volante (2000), winner of the Calvino prize. She has been a finalist for the Strega prize in 2001 with Palline di pane, and she won the Campiello prize in 2004 with Una barca nel bosco. In 2020 she published Diario di una talpa with La nave di Teseo. Her books have been translated in France, Germany, Spain and Latin America, Portugal, Turkey and Japan.

Luca Ricolfi is a sociologist and a professor of data analysis, founder of the electoral analysis journal “Polena” and of the research center Osservatorio del Nord Ovest. He is currently the president and scientific director of the Fondazione David Hume. Among his most recent books, published by La nave di Teseo: La società signorile di massa (2019), winner of Biella Letteratura e Industria award and La notte delle ninfee. Come si malgoverna un’epidemia (2021). His book The Growth Enigma has been translated in English.