Give Speech A Chance (ePub)

Give Speech A Chance, a timely and prescient anthology of scintillating essays by Harley Price, Ph.D., a brilliant social and political commentator, is "a dazzling collection of mordant essays on the aberrant Zeitgeist," according to Paul Gottfried in Chronicles magazine. In his Preface to the book, William Gairdner states that "In addition to being a very clear thinker with a profound historical and aesthetic sense of almost the entire Western tradition in literature, religion, poetry, mythology, and art - Harley is also a very amusing fellow." The Preface provides excerpts from the book on atheism, discrimination, victimology, abortion, conservatism, liberalism, and Jesus.

In her Foreword, Fran Griffin of FGF Books, the book's publisher, calls this book "a remarkable collection of some of the best essays on our culture and society available today. ... As the conservator of the 40-year legacy of writer and author, Joseph Sobran (1946-2010), the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation could not be more pleased that this new book is dedicated to him." Noting Sobran's "satirical vivisections of the liberal 'hive,'" which "will inspire conservatives for generations," Dr. Price states in his Dedication to this book that "none will approach" Sobran's "brilliance, eloquence or wit." Paul Gottfried, disagrees as he has "discovered ample evidence of Sobran's special talents in Dr. Price's argumentative verve, elegant self-expression, and defenses of Catholic moral teachings. ...Perhaps it is hard to imagine a more worthy successor" to Joe Sobran.

There is a common thread in this book, which is summed up in the apt subtitle, Heretical Essays on What You Can't Say or Even Think. Dr. Price points out that there is "an ever-expanding list of things you cannot say in this age of progressive 'tolerance,' and it begets the sort of self-censorship that has always been the norm in totalitarian regimes." As Canadian columnist Rory Leishman notes, "No one can refute Price's central thesis that our society is hovering on the brink of a totalitarian dictatorship where 'non-progressive opinion' -- i.e., any criticism of homosexuality, transgenderism, or a woman's 'right to choose' -- is criminalized as 'hate speech.'"

Paul Tuns of The Interim notes that Harley Price "inveighs against every intellectually fashionable trend with acuity and wit, delivering devastating blows to the pantheon of social justice and human rights: abortion, sexual promiscuity, transgenderism, atheism, anti-capitalism." Allan Carlson of The Natural Family writes that Harley Price exhibits "a rare voice combining eminent learning, moral decency, and common sense." Author Robert Reilly observes that Harley Price is "a classically educated, erudite man who reacts to our current moral and cultural catastrophes with scorn, sarcasm, and humor -- essential ingredients to maintaining any semblance of sanity today." Author Brian Mitchell asserts, "Dr. Price has written a witty, erudite defense of commonsense enlightened by the wisdom of the ancients and the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Christopher Check of Catholic Answers adds that Price "looks at the whole range of human experience through the only lens worth using - the Incarnation. It is for this very reason his brilliant prose style, delightful wit, and profound learning are put in the service of something much greater than himself: the Truth and bringing his readers to it."