Quillette's Zoe Booth, sits down with a guest to discuss some of the best Quillette articles from the week + more. Common themes include gender issues, feminism, free speech, evolutionary psychology, philosophy, politics, science and more.
All content for Quillette Cetera is the property of Zoe Booth and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Quillette's Zoe Booth, sits down with a guest to discuss some of the best Quillette articles from the week + more. Common themes include gender issues, feminism, free speech, evolutionary psychology, philosophy, politics, science and more.
Adam Szetela on How Cancel Culture and Sensitivity Readers Are Shaping the Publishing Industry and Silencing Dissent
Quillette Cetera
51 minutes
2 months ago
Adam Szetela on How Cancel Culture and Sensitivity Readers Are Shaping the Publishing Industry and Silencing Dissent
In this episode of Quillette Cetera, Zoe Booth speaks with Harvard fellow and Cornell PhD Adam Szetela—author of new book That Book Is Dangerous: How Moral Panic, Social Media, and the Culture Wars Are Remaking Publishing (MIT Press, 2025).
A working-class kid turned literary insider, Szetela exposes what he calls “the sensitivity era”: a cultural climate in which books are cancelled before they’re published, authors are shamed into grovelling apologies, and sensitivity readers act as ideological enforcers—surveilling fiction for offence.
Drawing on eye-opening examples and experimental research conducted at Cornell’s Social Dynamics Lab, Szetela explains how peer pressure alone can turn readers against even canonical figures like Allen Ginsberg. He also reflects on the publishing industry’s class divide, the fragility of elite institutions, and why pro wrestling and bodybuilding may offer a better education than the Ivy League.
From J.K. Rowling and Goodreads mobs to the politics of soccer and masculinity—this is a frank and timely discussion about literary freedom in an age of moral panic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Quillette Cetera
Quillette's Zoe Booth, sits down with a guest to discuss some of the best Quillette articles from the week + more. Common themes include gender issues, feminism, free speech, evolutionary psychology, philosophy, politics, science and more.
