Books fatal to their authors (1895)

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/books-fatal-to-their-authors/

by drdee • 3 years ago

74 12 3 years ago

"Tyrants, not books, kill authors."

Has anyone done a quantitative analysis of whether some publication patterns do correlate with a higher mortality risk even today?

bmulcahy• 3 years ago

Investigative journalism, I'd wager.

carso• 3 years ago

War correspondent in Gaza

https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on...

davidw• 3 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Caruana_Galizia

waterhouse• 3 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_and_media_...

thimkerbell2• 3 years ago

Also I wonder if it would vary by region, in the U.S.

rashidae• 3 years ago

“What is clear, however, is that punishment does not correlate to a book's popularity, or its truthfulness, or the quality of its scholarship. An author's madness is rarely taken into account when offense is perceived, and neither is haplessness. It's upsetting how many writers seem to have become fatalities entirely by accident.”

This makes me think of the last long podcast from Jeff Bezos with Lex Friedman, where he explains how we are not really “Truth telling creatures, but social creatures.” in his example of people that were more inclined as to be socially accepted, were more prone to survive, against those who spoke truth and provoked others comfort…

o11c• 3 years ago

Phrasing that as "some people were killed for libel" is much less impressive.

And there are at least a few people included in this book who literally were attempting to organize a rebellion against the throne to install a pretender.

For which, props for the completeness and honesty, at least. Such examples often get overlooked or whitewashed when this kind of discussion happens.

waste_monk• 3 years ago

See also: Books (potentially) fatal to their readers.

https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/if-books-could-kill-p...

charlieyu1• 3 years ago

Back in imperial China, writing a book could get your entire family tree eradicated.

autotune• 3 years ago

Not one of these writers filled out their EEOC correctly. I have no sympathy.

Books fatal to their authors (1895)

Related Stories