This is a book about ideas—specifically, about the evolution of a certain set of ideas, and how these ideas have come to dominate every important discussion about race, gender, and identity today. The truth, however, is that many of these ideas are recent inventions, are not grounded in scientific fact, and do not account for the sheer complexity of social reality and human experience. In fact, they often deny and even undermine the very principles on which liberal democratic societies are built — the very ideas that have allowed for unprecedented human progress, lifted standards of living across the world, and given us the opportunity and right to consider and debate these ideas in the first place! Ultimately, therefore, this is a book about what it truly means to have a just and equal society, and how best to get there.

Rebecca Christiansen is a novelist and essayist. Her debut YA novel, Maybe in Paris, was released in 2017, and she has several popular stories published on Wattpad. She lives in Canada and can be found on Twitter and Wattpad at @rebeccarightnow. Helen Pluckrose is a liberal political and cultural writer and the founder of Counterweight (counterweightsupport.com). A participant in the Grievance Studies Affair probe that highlighted problems in social justice scholarship, she is today an exile from the humanities, where she researched late medieval and early modern religious writing by and for women. She lives in England and can be found on Twitter @HPluckrose. James Lindsay is a mathematician with a background in physics and founder of New Discourses (newdiscourses.com). He is interested in the psychology of religion, authoritarianism, and extremism. He led the Grievance Studies Affair probe that made international headlines in 2018, including the front page of the New York Times. He lives in Tennessee and can be found on Twitter @ConceptualJames.