Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780316311335)

An impassioned defense of the freedom of speech, from St駱hane Charbonnier, a journalist murdered for his convictions.

On January 7, 2015, two gunmen stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They took the lives of twelve men and women, but they called for one man by name: "Charb."

Known by his pen name, St鑵hane Charbonnier was editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, and a renowned political cartoonist in his own right. In the past, he had received death threats and had even earned a place on Al Qaeda's Most Wanted List. On January 7 it seemed that Charb's enemies had finally succeeded in silencing him. But in a twist of fate befitting Charb's defiant nature, it was soon revealed that he had finished a book just two days before his murder on the very issues at the heart of the attacks: blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the necessary courage of satirists.

Here, published for the first time in English, is Charb's final work. A searing criticism of hypocrisy and racism, and a rousing, eloquent defense of free speech, Open Letter shows Charb's words to be as powerful and provocative as his art. This is an essential book about race, religion, the voice of ethnic minorities and majorities in a pluralistic society, and above all, the right to free expression and the surprising challenges being leveled at it in our fraught and dangerous time.

Author: Adam Gopnik, Charb
ISBN-10: 0316311332
ISBN-13: 9780316311335
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Language: English
Published: 01/05/2016
Pages: 96
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.20h x 5.20w x 0.50d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2015
Publishers Weekly 01/25/2016