{"product_id":"lionel-shriver-mania-2024","title":"Lionel Shriver: Mania [2024]","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Seldom is a book as funny, important and timely ... I was laughing out loud at the same time as my blood was running cold' JOHN CLEESE \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Viciously funny... an exhilarating satire' \u003cem\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Merciless... a welcome distraction' \u003cem\u003eECONOMIST\u003c\/em\u003e, Best Books of 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if calling someone stupid was illegal?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a reality not too distant from our own, where the so-called Mental Parity Movement has taken hold, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEveryone is equally clever, and discrimination based on intelligence is 'the last great civil rights fight'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExams and grades are all discarded, and smart phones are rebranded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word and encouraged to report parents for using it. You don't need a qualification to be a doctor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBest friends since adolescence, Pearson and Emory find themselves on opposing sides of this new culture war. Radio personality Emory - who has built her career riding the tide of popular thought - makes increasingly hard-line statements while, for her part, Pearson believes the whole thing is ludicrous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs their friendship fractures, Pearson's determination to cling onto the 'old, bigoted way of thinking' begins to endanger her job, her safety and even her family.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLionel Shriver turns her piercing gaze on the policing of opinion and intellect, and imagines a world in which intellectual meritocracy is heresy. Hilarious, deadpan, scathing and at times frighteningly plausible, MANIA will delight the many fans of her fiction and journalism alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shriver, Lionel","offers":[{"title":"Like New","offer_id":53334668312915,"sku":"XE80008658670","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"New","offer_id":53334668280147,"sku":"9780008658670","price":31.43,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/shriver-lionel-lionel-shriver-mania-2024-1229179059.jpg?v=1774476877","url":"https:\/\/theirishbookshop.live\/products\/lionel-shriver-mania-2024","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}