From the best-selling author of On Tyranny comes the definitive history of Hitler's and Stalin's wars against the civilians of Europe in World War II.Americans call the Second World War "The Good War." But before it even began, America's wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens - and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was finally defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war's end, both the German and the Soviet killing sites fell behind the iron curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness.Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required listening for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.Bloodlands won 12 awards including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Leipzig Award for European Understanding, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought. It has been translated into more than 30 languages, was named to 12 book-of-the-year lists, and was a best seller in six countries. Read more

If you don’t understand communist revolutions, you aren’t ready for what’s coming.The old rules are over. The old order is over. Accusations are evidence. Activism means bigotry and hate. Criminals are allowed to roam free. Citizens are locked up. An appetite for vengeance is unleashed—to deplatform, debank, destroy. This is the daily news, yet none of it’s new. Patterns from the past make sense of our present. They also foretell a terrifying future we might be condemned to endure.For nearly 250 years, far-left uprisings have followed the same battle plans—from the first call for change to last innocent executed, from denial a revolution is even happening to declaration of the new order. Unhumans takes listeners on a shocking, sweeping, and succinct journey through history to share the untold stories of radical takeovers that textbooks don’t teach.And there is one conclusion: We're in a new revolution right now.But this is not a book about ideology or politics. Unhumans reveals that communism, socialism, Marxism, and all other radical-isms are not philosophies but tactics—tactics that are specifically designed to unleash terror on everyday people and revoke their human rights to life, liberty, and property. These are the forces of unhumanity. This is what they do. Every. Single. Time. Unhumans steals their playbook, breaks apart their strategies piece by piece, and lays out the tactics of what it takes to fight back—and win, using real-world examples.Unhumans is an essential listen for every concerned citizen both in the US and worldwide. We must stop what is coming. Read more

From the prizewinning rising legal star, the deeply researched and definitive book on the way the media and police distract us from what matters.“Alec Karakatsanis is a leading voice in the legal struggle to dismantle mass incarceration. . . . What he says cannot be ignored.” (James Forman‚ Jr.)"Copaganda" is a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media. It stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society’s responses to it. As the United States incarcerates five times more people per capita than it did in 1970—despite record low crime rates—a sprawling and profitable punishment bureaucracy spends a lot of time and money to manipulate what we think that bureaucracy does and why.Copaganda is all around us. When you hear on the radio that crime is up when it’s actually down—that’s copaganda. When your local TV station obsessively focuses on shoplifting by poor people while ignoring crimes of wage theft, tax evasion, and environmental pollution that harm far more people—that’s copaganda. When you hear on your daily podcast that there is a “shortage” of prison guards rather than too many people in prison—that’s copaganda. When your newspaper quotes an “expert” saying that more money for police, prosecutors, and prisons is the answer to violence despite scientific evidence to the contrary—that’s copaganda.Recognized by Teen Vogue as “one of the most prominent voices” on the criminal legal system and a featured guest on shows like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Breakfast Club, Karakatsanis brings his sharp legal expertise, trenchant political analysis, and humorous personal storytelling to delve into one of the most critical topics in our society today.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

The “gripping” (The Atlantic) story of five families shattered by pernicious, pervasive conspiracy theories, and how we might set ourselves free from a crisis that could haunt American life for generations.“Excellent . . . This is the intimate side of the cold civil war America has been stuck in for nearly a decade.”—Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times“SHED MY DNA”: three excruciating words uttered by a QAnon-obsessed mother, once a highly respected lawyer, to her only son, once the closest person in her life. QAnon beliefs and adjacent conspiracy theories have had devastating political consequences as they’ve exploded in popularity. What’s often overlooked is the lasting havoc they wreak on our society at its most basic and intimate level—the family.In The Quiet Damage, celebrated reporter Jesselyn Cook paints a harrowing portrait of the vulnerabilities that have left so many of us susceptible to outrageous falsehoods promising order, purpose, and control. Braided throughout are the stories of five American families: an elderly couple whose fifty-year romance takes a heartbreaking turn; millennial sisters of color who grew up in dire poverty—one to become a BLM activist, the other, a hardcore conspiracy theorist pulling her little boy down the rabbit hole with her; a Bay Area hippie-type and her business-executive fiancé, who must decide whether to stay with her as she turns into a stranger before his eyes; evangelical parents whose simple life in a sleepy suburb spirals into delusion-fueled chaos; and a rural mother-son duo who, after carrying each other through unspeakable tragedy, stop speaking at all as ludicrous untruths shatter a bond long thought unbreakable.Charting the arc of each believer’s path from their first intersection with conspiracy theories to the depths of their cultish conviction, to—in some cases—their rejection of disinformation and the mending of fractured relationships, Cook offers a rare, intimate look into the psychology of how and why ordinary people come to believe the unbelievable. Profound, brilliantly researched, and beautifully written, The Quiet Damage lays bare how we have been taken hostage by grifters peddling lies built on false hope—and how we might release our loved ones, and ourselves, from their grasp. Read more

In Shameless Liars radio talk show host and video podcaster Larry O'Connor details the most egregious examples of media bias, slanted coverage, double standards, journalistic malpractice, and outright propaganda that were on full display during the 2024 election cycle and how Donald Trump triumphed over all of it.O'Connor, a long-time media critic, and current affairs commentator who once worked with trailblazing conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart, examines the origins of the First Amendment's Freedom of the Press and how We the People require honest and unencumbered journalism to allow our Constitutional Republic to thrive.Shameless Liars also examines the rise of alternative media and how Trump harnessed the plethora of new outlets and streaming platforms to build his voter coalition and win the day. By ignoring 60 Minutes in favor of Joe Rogan, Trump's campaign changed the political media paradigm forever... and We the People are better for it.Shameless Liars! is not just a historical look back on the media malpractice the American people have endured over the past several years, it's a hope-filled chronicle of the way forward for America as the appetite for news and information grows faster than the propagandists in the corporate outlets can keep up.The propagandists have been fully exposed and Donald Trump vanquished them all.We are not tired of all the winning. Not by a long shot. Read more

2024 Reprint of the 1928 Edition. Propaganda, an influential book written by Bernays in 1928, incorporated the literature from social science and psychological manipulation into an examination of the techniques of public communication. Bernays wrote the book in response to the success of some of his earlier works such as Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and A Public Relations Counsel (1927). Propaganda explored the psychology behind manipulating masses and the ability to use symbolic action and propaganda to influence politics, consumer choices and corporate image, which we now call "branding". Walter Lippmann was Bernays' unacknowledged American mentor and his work The Phantom Public greatly influenced the ideas expressed in Propaganda a year later. The work propelled Bernays into media historians' view of him as the "father of public relations." Bernay's manual of mass manipulation provides a detailed examination of how public discourse and opinion are shaped and controlled in politics, business, art, education, and science. In a world dominated by political spin and media manipulation, Propaganda is an essential read for all who wish to understand how power is used by the ruling elite of our society. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays (1891-1995) pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he called "engineering of consent.'" During World War I, he was an integral part--along with Walter Lippmann--of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda machine that advertised and sold the war to the American people as one that would "Make the World Safe for Democracy." The marketing strategies for all future wars would be based on the CPI model. Over the next half century, Bernays, combining the techniques he had learned in the CPI with the ideas of Lippmann and Freud, fashioned a career as an outspoken proponent of the engineering of consent for political and corporate influence of the population, earning the moniker "father of public relations." Among his powerful clients were President Calvin Coolidge, Procter & Gamble, CBS, the American Tobacco Company, and General Electric, and the United Fruit Company. Read more

This revelatory and dramatic history of disinformation traces the rise of secret organized deception operations from the interwar period to contemporary internet troll farms We live in the age of disinformation - of organized deception. Spy agencies pour vast resources into hacking, leaking, and forging data, often with the goal of weakening the very foundation of liberal democracy: trust in facts. Thomas Rid, a renowned expert on technology and national security, was one of the first to sound the alarm. Even before the 2016 election, he warned that Russian military intelligence was "carefully planning and timing a high-stakes political campaign" to disrupt the democratic process. But as crafty as such so-called active measures have become, they are not new. The story of modern disinformation begins with the clash between communism and capitalism after the Russian Revolution, which would come to define the Cold War. In Active Measures, Rid reveals startling intelligence and security secrets from materials written in more than 10 languages across several nations, and from interviews with current and former operatives. He exposes the disturbing yet colorful history of professional, organized lying, revealing for the first time some of the century's most significant operations - many of them nearly beyond belief. A White Russian ploy backfires and brings down a New York police commissioner; a KGB-engineered, anti-Semitic hate campaign creeps back across the Berlin Wall; the CIA backs a fake publishing empire, run by a former Wehrmacht U-boat commander that produces Germany’s best jazz magazine. Rid tracks the rise of leaking, and shows how spies began to exploit emerging internet culture many years before WikiLeaks. Finally, he sheds new light on the 2016 election, especially the role of the infamous "troll farm" in St. Petersburg as well as a much more harmful attack that unfolded in the shadows.Active Measures takes the listener on a guided tour deep into a vast hall of mirrors old and new, pointing to a future of engineered polarization, more active and less measured - but also offering the tools to cut through the game of deception.A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux Read more

In a world where everyone is talking at you, Gary Lucks shares hope with you and assures us that we’re not alone in this time of political anxiety. If you’ve felt discouraged or confused by the perpetual chaos erupting from the White House, this book will help you get involved and make a difference. You’ll discover people in your community who are committed to protecting democracy—and who will welcome you into a national effort to defeat the threat of authoritarianism.You Are Not Alone is inspiring and filled with practical steps you can take today. Here’s what people are saying…If America is to survive…we need a new and resilient political movement, born of progressivism and patriotism. Gary Lucks shows what works for a better future. --Joel Makower, Chairman, Trellis Group and the author of The Grand New StrategyRead Gary’s book and follow his lead. His practical wisdom for impactful political organizing could not be more timely.--Darrell Steinberg, JD, Former California State Senate Leader and Mayor of Sacramento Read more

REPORTAGE - Essays on the New World Order examines the roots, culture, mindset and insatiable and ruthless lust for power of globalist institutions and interests. James offers not only clarity on the Who, What, How and Why of hidden and suppressed histories, but also presents alternatives, and-yes-even hope for the free and sovereign individual in a world seemingly locked down by The Powers that Be.JAMES CORBETT is an award-winning independent writer and documentary producer. Since 2007, his web site CorbettReport.com - Open Source Intelligence News has presented thousands of videos, articles and interviews, garnering an enormous and influential following and earning James a reputation for integrity and insight. Read more

PsyWar: Enforcing the New World Order exposes the history and tactics of modern psychological warfare on the American people and offers a way forward for citizens to resist totalitarian control.PsyWar is when a government coordinates and directs deployment of propaganda, censorship, and psychological operations (psyops) tools in campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion. The authors address critical topics including:Propaganda and Behavioral ControlPsychological BioterrorismDeep State CensorshipSurveillance CapitalismAdministrative State ObjectivesFifth-Generation WarfarePsyWar TacticsTechno-TotalitarianismThe New World Order and Global ControlFree speech is the most pragmatic tool we have for ascertaining truth. Only by examining all sides of an issue can the truth be chiseled out like a statue out of marble. We must defend all speech—whether untrue, hateful, or intolerable, as that is the only way to protect our right to understand the world. As soon as free speech is restricted, that restriction will be used to sway public opinion.Now is a time when America needs hope. But more than hope, we need to restore our Constitution and Bill of Rights as the foundational documents of our Republic. These documents support and protect our personal sovereignty and are at the core of our fundamental rights as Americans. We must work to make this country great again by restoring our commitment to these foundational principles and ethics. Read more

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A hilarious and horrifying journey into the dark heart of the ‟New Normal Reich.” C. J. Hopkins’s latest volume of Consent Factory Essays chronicles his Kafkaesque prosecution in Germany, the broader crackdown on dissent throughout the West, and other unsettling features of the ‟New Normal”—the new pathologized form of totalitarianism that was rolled out during ‟the Covid Pandemic,” which is radically transforming societies around the world. Charged by the German authorities with ‟disseminating pro-Nazi propaganda” for tweeting the cover art of his bestselling book, The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020–2021), Hopkins’s absurdist adventures in the German legal system—where he was pronounced guilty without a trial, then acquitted, and then ‟unacquitted”—make for harrowing and uproariously humorous reading. Prosecuted in criminal court, his book banned by Amazon, his tweets censored by Twitter, reported to Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, its domestic intelligence agency, his battle to defend his right to freedom of speech and artistic expression has become an international cause célèbre, receiving major media coverage in the USA, UK, Australia, and Switzerland, as well as Germany. Spanning the years 2022–2024, the essays in this volume also cover the crackdown on so-called ‟disinformation,” ‟hate-speech,” and other forms of wrongthink, the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the culture wars, the rise of the ‟Musk Cult,” the return of Trump, and the rest of the aftermath of the ‟Covid Pandemic.” Read more

How propaganda undermines democracy and why we need to pay attentionOur democracy today is fraught with political campaigns, lobbyists, liberal media, and Fox News commentators, all using language to influence the way we think and reason about public issues. Even so, many of us believe that propaganda and manipulation aren't problems for us—not in the way they were for the totalitarian societies of the mid-twentieth century. In How Propaganda Works, Jason Stanley demonstrates that more attention needs to be paid. He examines how propaganda operates subtly, how it undermines democracy—particularly the ideals of democratic deliberation and equality—and how it has damaged democracies of the past.Focusing on the shortcomings of liberal democratic states, Stanley provides a historically grounded introduction to democratic political theory as a window into the misuse of democratic vocabulary for propaganda's selfish purposes. He lays out historical examples, such as the restructuring of the US public school system at the turn of the twentieth century, to explore how the language of democracy is sometimes used to mask an undemocratic reality. Drawing from a range of sources, including feminist theory, critical race theory, epistemology, formal semantics, educational theory, and social and cognitive psychology, he explains how the manipulative and hypocritical declaration of flawed beliefs and ideologies arises from and perpetuates inequalities in society, such as the racial injustices that commonly occur in the United States.How Propaganda Works shows that an understanding of propaganda and its mechanisms is essential for the preservation and protection of liberal democracies everywhere. Read more

The transformation of schooling from a twelve-year jail sentence to freedom to learn. John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction , now available in paperback, focuses on mechanisms of traditional education which cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, Dumbing Us Down , introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Weapons of Mass Instruction adds another chilling metaphor to the brief against conventional schooling. Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be conditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence. Escaping this trap requires a strategy Gatto calls "open source learning" which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach our children can avoid being indoctrinated-only then can they achieve self-knowledge, good judgment, and courage. Read more

“Bernays’ honest and practical manual provides much insight into some of the most powerful and influential institutions of contemporary industrial state capitalist democracies.”—Noam Chomsky“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward BernaysA seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays (1891–1995), pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed “engineering of consent.” During World War I, he was an integral part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise and sell the war to the American people as one that would “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” The CPI would become the blueprint in which marketing strategies for future wars would be based upon.Bernays applied the techniques he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the ideas of Walter Lipmann, as well as his uncle, Sigmund Freud, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda as a tool for democratic and corporate manipulation of the population. His 1928 bombshell Propaganda lays out his eerily prescient vision for using propaganda to regiment the collective mind in a variety of areas, including government, politics, art, science and education. To read this book today is to frightfully comprehend what our contemporary institutions of government and business have become in regards to organized manipulation of the masses. Read more

“Political correctness” has taken politeness and turned it into a weapon of censorship and intimidation. In the workplace, on social media, and even at the dinner table, Americans are confronted daily with a laundry list of words they’re “not allowed” to say - and that list is updated constantly and without warning.How did so absurd a concept become so dangerous - and come to dominate our public discourse over the last quarter-century?In Speechless, number one nationally best-selling author and political commentator Michael Knowles masterfully traces the history and effects of political correctness from the early 20th century to the present, revealing its insidious roots, exposing the power-hungry language architects behind its ever-growing control, and examining what this concerted manipulation of speech means for the future of American culture, politics, and minds. Read more

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAn urgent, comprehensive explanation of the ways disinformation is impacting democracy, and practical solutions that can be pursued to strengthen the public, media, and truth-based politicsMSNBC's legal analyst breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few."One of the most acute observers of our time shares . . . a compelling work about a challenge that—left unexamined and left unchecked—could undermine our democracy." —Eric H. Holder Jr, 82nd Attorney General of the United StatesAmerican society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility.In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. The book includes: The authoritarian playbook: a brief history of disinformation from Mussolini and Hitler to Bolsonaro and Trump, chronicles the ways in which authoritarians have used disinformation to seize and retain power.Disinformation tactics—like demonizing the other, seducing with nostalgia, silencing critics, muzzling the media, condemning the courts; stoking violence—and reasons why they work.An explanation of why America is particularly vulnerable to disinformation and how it exploits our First Amendment Freedoms, sparks threats and violence, and destabilizes social structures.Real, accessible solutions for countering disinformation and maintaining the rule of law such as making domestic terrorism a federal crime, increasing media literacy in schools, criminalizing doxxing, and much more.Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2021 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country’s hard-won democracy. Read more

Do you look around at our country, our culture, and wonder:"HOW DID WE GET HERE?"The 1916 Project unearths the how and why of our "progressive" culture shift. In 1916, the founder of Planned Parenthood opened her first clinic that launched America into a moral revolution that would have far-reaching consequences worldwide. Seth traces a direct path from Planned Parenthood to the Nazis to the current Democratic Party. Along the way, he makes stops in unexpected places, like the offices of Playboy magazine, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and an ancient altar dedicated to the god Molech. The connections will shock you-perhaps even anger you-but you will not be the same after learning the truth. And if you've ever struggled to articulate your pro-life convictions against the onslaught of woke propaganda, this book will help you shatter every liberal lie you've ever been told. Fair warning: once you understand what's really happening, there's no turning back."Seth Gruber is the leading voice of the pro-life movement. The 1916 Project is shaking the foundations of hell. I believe the battle for the lives of the unborn will define the future of the United States of America. And, in these Last Days, this book may very well be the thing God uses to awaken His church from her slumber and finally end the genocide of babies. If there's one pro-life book you read, make sure it's this one!" -Jack Hibbs, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills"The 1916 Project is everything the church needs to know about how this evil and sinister culture of death was created. I wish someone like Seth had written this book in the 1970s and discovered all of the dirty little secrets about the sexual revolution we're dealing with today. This book is the wake-up call we need as a sleeping church! Read it now and join us in the fight!" -Kirk Cameron, Actor and Television Host"Seth Gruber is one of the most important pro-life voices in America. This book lays out the path toward abolishing abortion. Read it to find out how." -Charlie Kirk, Founder of Turning Point USA Read more

From one of our leading experts on disinformation, this inventive biography of the rogue WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer confronts hard questions about the nature of information war: what if you can't fight lies with truth? Can a propaganda war ever be won? In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine, crowing victory and smearing his enemies as liars and manipulators over his frequent radio speeches, blasted out on loudspeakers and into homes. British claims that Hitler was dangerous had little impact against this wave of disinformation. Except for the broadcasts of someone called Der Chef, a German who questioned Nazi doctrine. He had access to high-ranking German military secrets and spoke of internal rebellion. His listeners included German soldiers and citizens, as well as politicians in Washington DC who were debating getting into the war. And--most importantly--Der Chef was a fiction. He was a character created by the British propagandist Thomas Sefton Delmer, a unique weapon in the war. Then, as author Peter Pomerantsev seeks to tell Delmer's story, he is called into a wartime propaganda effort of his own: the US response to the invasion of Ukraine. In flashes forward to the present day, Pomerantsev weaves in what he's learning from Delmer as he seeks to fight against Vladimir Putin's tyranny and lies. This book is the story of Delmer and his modern investigator, as they each embark on their own quest to manipulate the passions of supporters and enemies, and to turn the tide of an information war, an extraordinary history that is informing the present before our eyes. Read more

Dr. Peter Hotez discusses how the antivaccine movement became a dangerous political campaign promoted by elected officials and amplified by news media, causing thousands of American deaths.Shortlisted for the Non-Obvious Book Awards by the Non-Obvious CompanyDuring the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, one renowned scientist, in his famous bowtie, appeared daily on major news networks such as MSNBC, NPR, the BBC, and others. Dr. Peter J. Hotez often went without sleep, working around the clock to develop a nonprofit COVID-19 vaccine and to keep the public informed. During that time, he was one of the most trusted voices on the pandemic and was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his selfless work. He also became one of the main targets of anti-science rhetoric that gained traction through conservative news media. In this eyewitness story of how the anti-vaccine movement grew into a dangerous and prominent anti-science element in American politics, Hotez describes the devastating impacts it has had on Americans' health and lives. As a scientist who has endured antagonism from anti-vaxxers and been at the forefront of both essential scientific discovery and advocacy, Hotez is uniquely qualified to tell this story. By weaving his personal experiences together with information on how the anti-vaccine movement became a tool of far-right political figures around the world, Hotez opens readers' eyes to the dangers of anti-science. He explains how anti-science became a major societal and lethal force: in the first years of the pandemic, more than 200,000 unvaccinated Americans needlessly died despite the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Even as he paints a picture of the world under a shadow of aggressive ignorance, Hotez demonstrates his innate optimism, offering solutions for how to combat science denial and save lives in the process. Read more