"This book is about people whose ideological circumstances have found them opposing established beliefs in our times - scholars advocating the Palestinian cause in a very hostile environment, for example, as well as climate scientists defending themselves against the de-funding of their laboratories by defenders of fossil-fuel interests; opponents of "creation science" under assault for teaching what once was regarded as household-variety biology (a.k.a. Darwinism); Marxists in a political system dominated by neoconservatives. The central thesis that unites this diverse array of controversies is that shutting down free inquiry - most notably for points of view deemed unpopular - "dumbs" us all down by restraining the search for knowledge, which demands open inquiry."--Jacket.