A Pulitzer Prize winner surveys the American cultural and political landscape and asks if "the freedom to hear" remains intact.Near the end of his narrative, Shipler thanks one of his many interview subjects for her time, and she in turn thanks him for his attention: "The listener is everything in telling a story." The remark serves as both apt praise for his alert reportorial skills and as a succinct expression of the focus of this odd-angle take on freedom of speech. The author features a wide variety of writers and speakers who inject ideas, information, disinformation, prejudice, and fear into the marketplace, but he also focuses on the marketplace itself, on those auditors who wish to hear no "evil," no truth, nothing at all discomfiting to their own views. Good stories, great interviews, and a potent plea on behalf of vigilant listening.--Kirkus
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