NPR

Readers Rankled By 'Democracy In Chains' Review

What obligation does NPR have to follow up on a controversial book post-review?
Source: Jessica Diaz-Hurtado

On June 18, NPR published an online-only review of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, a newly published nonfiction book by Duke University historian Nancy MacLean. NPR's reviewer praised the book for revealing a "clear and present danger" to the future of the country (the review is prominently excerpted on the book's Amazon page); reviewers at other publications did, as well.

About 10 days after the review was published, critics began raising complaints about MacLean's scholarship, ranging from charges she had misquoted some of those she cited to deeper questions about how she (and praise) at , a opinion blog that calls its writers "generally libertarian, conservative, centrist, or some mixture of these, though we don't toe any party line, and sometimes disagree even with each other." While many of the critics of the book are libertarians, criticism has also come from some in the center and .

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