The pro-abortion activist group “Shout Your Abortion” has proudly debuted a book aimed at young children. 
Organization founder Amelia Bonow published the book “Abortion Is Everything” after years of promising it was forthcoming. She shared photos and excerpts on the group’s official social media page, describing it as a “very special book.”
“This beautiful hardcover book was created to talk with kids about abortion,” the post says. “Abortion Is Everything speaks directly to five to eight-year-olds about what abortion is, how it might feel, and why people have abortions.”
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“With accessible, inclusive language, Abortion Is Everything frames abortion as the actualization of a uniquely human superpower: our capacity to imagine the future and make choices that lead us towards the life we envision. Abortion is a tool that allows human beings to shape our destinies, and which has shaped the entire world around us,” the description goes on.
“Parents, caregivers, and educators who work with children have long been searching for a tool to talk with kids about abortion, especially given the volume of political noise currently surrounding the issue,” it says, adding that the book, “introduces the concept of abortion in a way that empowers parents and kids to begin rewriting our cultural scripts about abortion at the most foundational level.”
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.
Commenters were thrilled about the concept, with one person replying, “Love it. I‘ve been speaking to my kids about abortion since they were small and it is so empowering to hear a child say: ‘You don‘t have to be pregnant if you don’t want to be.’”
“[I] think i will be buying this today for my potential future offspring!!” another person wrote.
Bonow has a history of promoting abortion to minors. In 2018, she appeared in a video for the “Kids Meet” series online and used anti-science and pro-abortion talking points while discussing her own abortion with the young boys and girls, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-feminist-promotes-brags-about-abortion-amanda-prestigiacomo">reported</a>.
She said abortion was “all part of God’s plan” and agreed when one of the participants suggested that an unborn “fetus” is “not really a human being yet.”
“I kind of like to compare it to a sea cucumber. It’s not thinking; it’s just living. It’s like, your arm is not capable of complex thought. Neither is a baby inside your womb,” one boy said as Bonow enthusiastically agreed with that idea.
Bonow also said “pro-life” is “propaganda.”
“I don’t call them pro-life; I call [them] anti-choice, because who would disagree with that statement? Being pro-life? … To me, the phrase ‘pro-life’ is propaganda, because often the people that say that don’t want to take care of people who have babies that they can’t afford and then are totally poor. … They want to deprive people [of] access to healthcare,” she told the teens. “You guys aren’t pro-life. I’m pro-life,” she insisted.

Abortion word on wooden block. Flat lay view on light pink background.

Activist Group Proudly Debuts Pro-Abortion Book Aimed At Children

Activist Group Proudly Debuts Abortion Book Aimed At Young Kids

Abortion

Books

Children's Books

Feminism

Pro-Abortion

Michelle Obama is continuing her book promo tour and complaining nonstop about how she believes she’s been perceived by the public. Her latest in a long list of complaints has to do with her hair.
The former first lady discussed the topic during a conversation with Tracee Ellis Ross that was posted on YouTube over the weekend.
Obama whined that black women are “trapped” by societal pressure regarding their looks and feel compelled to keep their hair straight, meaning they can’t participate in everyday activities. 
“Let me explain something to white people. Our hair comes out of our head naturally in a curly pattern,” the 61-year-old lectured. “When we straighten it to follow your beauty standards, we are trapped by the straightness.”
“That&#8217;s why so many of us can&#8217;t swim, and we run away from the water. People won&#8217;t go to the gym because we’re trying to keep our hair straight for y&#8217;all! It&#8217;s exhausting, expensive and takes up so much time.”
Obama concluded by effusively telling society to “get out of&#8221; her hair.
“So why do we need an act … an act of law to get white folks out of our hair? Don’t tell me how to wear my hair. Don’t wonder about it. Don’t touch it. Just don’t. It just is.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="A Live Conversation on Beauty, Culture &amp; Confidence with Tracee Ellis Ross | The Look" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qnVS1MlDb8Y?start=3225&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The former first lady got some negative reactions from both sides of the political aisle. 
One Threads user has been gaining traction online for her reaction to Obama’s rant.
“Dear Michelle Obama, newsflash black women do not straighten their hair because of white peoples beauty standards,” user Chanel Coco <a href="https://www.threads.com/@chanelcocofive/post/DRE3Ws3AF0d">posted</a> in reply. “As a Curly natural myself most black women straighten their hair because they choose to and it’s easier to manage for them. Let’s drop this narrative that we do anything for the white beauty standard, black women are the true beauty standard. Why get on stage and say that nonsense?”
“Dear Michelle Obama, Abandon the victimhood. There is no standard. If you don’t want to straighten your hair…then don’t,” an X user posted alongside a photo of a large Afro hairstyle. 
“I, for one, have never once cared about Michelle Obama&#8217;s hair and what she does or doesn&#8217;t do with it,” former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines <a href="https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1989788112214741464">wrote</a> in reply, echoing what so many others were saying. 
Obama has been complaining about her hair and the way she thinks it&#8217;s viewed for years. In 2022, she said she decided to straighten her hair while her husband Barack was in office because the public was not “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/17/michelle-obama-black-hair-braids/">ready for</a>” her to have braids.  
Obama has been promoting her new book, “The Look,” which is touted as a reflection on her “lifelong journey with fashion, hair, and beauty.” The book tour has featured nonstop complaining about the pressure she was under, including when Obama <a href="https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1986835412204016114">said</a> having a team for hair, makeup, and styling was a &#8220;time necessity&#8221; rather than a &#8220;luxury.”

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama Is Absolutely Convinced People Care What Her Hair Looks Like

Book tour

Celebrities

News

Politics

Racism

It was quite possibly the most remarkable literary friendship of the 20th century. 
As young men, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both endured the utter devastation of trench warfare during World War I. Then, as unrivaled evil once again ravaged the European continent during the 1930s and ‘40s, these two Oxford professors produced epic works of fiction, masterpieces imbued with moral purpose and beauty.
Like many lovers of the classics, Joseph Loconte shares a lifelong fascination with Lewis and Tolkien. As a professor and scholar, Loconte marvels at how the writers produced their most beloved works in the dark crucible of World War II. So, why are their novels — and the films they inspired — still considered among the greatest of all time?
Glad you asked. This excerpt from Loconte’s new book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Middle-earth-Confront-Gathering-1933-1945/dp/1400247934/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XOB86YWCWn1uj4Zfk3oqTB9WG9MQQbLwBASgkqr15NWkKfOSXC-5RpcIzhcqguAh6u2mAEA__rlmNbTJXc-q7fuDoUvDpYw_bftz3i-JMZz-OT115AAqgAplDhdZqNRi4ew80IZaX6eRtLnMMl14zg.GtxJWFQj59jzOCdkAcMWFPD19R7M4lvbo1EeMK8gFDA&amp;qid=1763159058&amp;sr=1-3">The War for Middle-Earth</a>,” may help light the way. — Joel Kneedler
* * *
<h3>Minds Lit by Fire</h3>
Halfway through the Great War, on November 30, 1916, a small group of European leaders managed to attend the funeral of Franz Joseph, ruler over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In a ceremony scripted by the emperor before his death, the Grand Cortege carrying his coffin halted outside the Capuchin Monastery in Vienna, where all the Hapsburg emperors were laid to rest.
What transpired was a whisper from an earlier era, a nod to the transcendence of God and the frailty of men. The herald, on behalf of the emperor, knocked on the monastery door.
“Who is knocking?” shouted the abbot inside.
“I am Franz Joseph, emperor of Austria, king of Hungary.”
“I don’t know you.”
Again the herald shouted: “I am Franz Joseph, emperor of Austria, king of Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Dalmatia, Grand Duke of Transylvania, Duke of—”
“We still don’t know who you are,” interrupted the abbot.
At this moment the herald fell on his knees and in front of all assembled declared, “I am Franz Joseph, a poor sinner, humbly begging God’s mercy.”
“Enter then,” the abbot said. And the gates opened.
The funeral of the Austro-Hungarian emperor symbolized an outlook already in an advanced stage of decay. Settled beliefs about the religious dimension to human life were becoming unsettled. Assumptions about the moral life, about the existence of good and evil, seemed to have vanished into the killing fields of the 1914–18 war. By the end of the war, the emotional and spiritual lives of millions of ordinary Europeans were caught up in a no-man’s-land of doubt and disillusionment.
Two of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, were soldiers in the Great War. They fought in the trenches in France, what one contemporary called “the long grave already dug.” They emerged from the mechanized slaughter of that conflict physically intact—just barely.
No man could pass through the fires of the Somme and Arras and remain unchanged. For Tolkien, his war experience created an enduring sense of sadness. Yet he found that his imaginative cast of mind, his early taste for fantasy, was “quickened to full life by war.” For Lewis, the conflict deepened his youthful atheism: the growing conviction that if God existed, he was a sadist. Paradoxically, the war years launched Lewis on a spiritual quest, a desire for “Joy,” which ultimately led him on a remarkable journey of faith.
<div id="attachment_1000277" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Middle-earth-Confront-Gathering-1933-1945/dp/1400247934/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XOB86YWCWn1uj4Zfk3oqTB9WG9MQQbLwBASgkqr15NWkKfOSXC-5RpcIzhcqguAh6u2mAEA__rlmNbTJXc-q7fuDoUvDpYw_bftz3i-JMZz-OT115AAqgAplDhdZqNRi4ew80IZaX6eRtLnMMl14zg.GtxJWFQj59jzOCdkAcMWFPD19R7M4lvbo1EeMK8gFDA&amp;qid=1763159058&amp;sr=1-3"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1000277" class="size-large wp-image-1000277" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Design: Thomas Nelson" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Book-cover-Loconte.jpg 1365w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover Design: Thomas Nelson</div>
The lives of these two men intersected after the war as they were launching their academic careers at Oxford University. They soon formed a bond of friendship that, given the reach and influence of their novels, must rank as one of the most consequential friendships of modern times.
There was nothing inevitable about it. Tolkien was a devout Catholic; Lewis an Ulster Protestant and lapsed Anglican. At their first English faculty meeting, they circled each other like tigers in the wild. Yet they soon discovered that they loved many of the same things: ancient myths, epic poetry, medieval stories of honor, chivalry, sacrifice, and war.
The theme of war would become a defining feature of their professional and literary lives. Their personal lives would be upended by two global conflicts. Barely twenty years after surviving what was the most devastating conflict in history, Tolkien and Lewis would watch in anguish as new forces of aggression gathered and dominated the geopolitical landscape of Europe.
In 1938, a year before the outbreak of the Second World War, author H. G. Wells terrified millions with a radio broadcast based on his novel The War of the Worlds, in which an imaginary Martian invasion devastates the earth. Art would imitate life. As British historian Niall Ferguson observes, “men proved that it was quite possible to wreak comparable havoc without the need for alien intervention. All they had to do was to identify this or that group of their fellow men as the aliens, and then kill them.” This was the terrible pattern in the aftermath of the First World War. Communism, fascism, Nazism: all produced political systems that drew their strength from their hatreds.
The totalitarian states of Europe and Asia, despite their differences, shared another unifying characteristic: a contempt for the democratic and religious ideals of the West. Their ambitions made another global conflict almost inevitable.
“If the first great war was the seminal catastrophe,” argues historian Sir Ian Kershaw, “the second was the culmination of this catastrophe—the complete collapse of European civilization.” Living and working in Oxford, England, Tolkien and Lewis found themselves at the storm front of this tragedy. Like no other conflict in Britain’s long history, the Second World War created an existential crisis. For many months the political survival of their island nation was an open question.
It was in the crucible of this experience that Tolkien and Lewis sought each other out. The horror of the First World War instigated a cultural backlash, setting loose forces that tore at the moral and spiritual foundations of Western civilization. Both men were determined to fight back. They formed the nucleus of a group of like-minded writers, all resolved to establish a beachhead of resistance in the war of ideas that was raging around them.
The onset of the Second World War created a profound sense of urgency. Tolkien and Lewis came to believe that the soul of their neighbor, as well as the soul of their civilization, hung in the balance. In ways not fully appreciated, the 1939–45 war utterly transformed their lives and literary imaginations. Their most beloved works — including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, and The Chronicles of Narnia — were conceived in the shadow of this conflict.
“Talent alone cannot make a writer,” observed Ralph Waldo Emerson. “There must be a man behind the book.” Behind the extraordinary works of Tolkien and Lewis stood a cloud of witnesses: individuals whose contributions to the literary canon of Western civilization provided the inspiration for their epic novels. Both authors instinctively looked to this inheritance and were nourished by it in wartime.
As a result, they acquired something that our modern era has mostly abandoned: perspective. By being rooted in the great books of the Western tradition, they knew where to look for wisdom, virtue, courage, and faith. Intimate knowledge of the past braced them for the crisis years of 1933–45. In this, they reinforced each other’s best instincts. “My entire philosophy of history,” Lewis once told Tolkien, “hangs upon a single sentence of your own.”
Could an entire philosophy of history be summed up in a single sentence? What sentence? It is from a passage in The Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf the Wizard explains to Frodo Baggins something of the ancient struggle for Middle-earth. “There was sorrow then, too, and gathering dark, but great valor, and great deeds that were not wholly vain.” Here is an approach to history — to the terrible history of the twentieth century — that invites reflection.
The lives of Tolkien and Lewis, after all, were embedded in this story when another disastrous war unleashed upon the earth a storm of human misery unsurpassed in the catalogue of world catastrophes. “Middle-earth, I suspect, looks so engagingly familiar to us, and speaks to us so eloquently,” writes biographer John Garth, “because it was born with the modern world and marked by the same terrible birth pangs.” We cannot fully appreciate the achievement of these two remarkable authors until we try to see the world as they experienced it. They possessed a deep awareness of life’s sorrows.
Yet this is only part of their story. Their experience of suffering was held in check by something stronger: gratitude. The Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero called this quality “not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Like no other authors of their age, they used their imagination to reclaim—for their generation and ours—those deeds of valor and sacrifice and love that have always kept a lamp burning even in the deepest darkness.
* * *
Adapted from &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Middle-earth-Confront-Gathering-1933-1945/dp/1400247934">THE WAR FOR MIDDLE-EARTH: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933-1945</a>,&#8221; by Joseph Loconte. Copyright 2025 by Joseph Loconte. Published by Thomas Nelson. Available wherever books are sold on November 18, 2025.
* * *
Joseph Loconte, PhD, is an author, historian, and filmmaker. He serves as Director of The Rivendell Center in New York City. He is a Presidential Scholar at New College of Florida and a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute. Mr. Loconte’s commentary appears in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, The New Criterion, National Geographic, Law and Liberty, The National Interest, and National Review. For ten years Mr. Loconte served as a commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he divides his time between Washington, DC, and New York City.
* * *
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The War for Middle-Earth Book Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hAv3WNVeJIQ?start=5&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tolkien Lewis II

Tolkien, Lewis, And The Battle To Save Western Civilization

C.S. Lewis

Christianity

J.R.R. Tolkien

Oxford University

World War I

On the morning of January 19, 2021, decorated Navy Lt. Commander Thomas E. Caldwell was resting peacefully on his Virginia family farm when FBI agents executed a pre-dawn SWAT raid.
They accused him of being a leader of the Oath Keepers, of storming the Capitol, and of hunting down members of Congress.
He says every single claim was false. Tom was never a member of the Oath Keepers. He never entered the Capitol. He never planned an attack. And yet, thanks to Biden&#8217;s DOJ, Tom spent over 50 days in solitary confinement and endured years of prosecution.
Now pardoned, he&#8217;s finally free to speak. Here&#8217;s an excerpt from his new book, &#8220;<a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked">The Mouths of the Wicked</a>.&#8221; — The Editors
* * *
January 19, 2021
“Honey! Get up! The FBI is at the door!”
I will never forget those words or the urgency in Sharon’s voice as she shook me awake that dreadful morning. Bundled under blankets and still foggy from two sleeping pills, I struggled to free myself from the CPAP machine.
Trying to make sense of it all, I leaned on the dresser, mind racing as an intense, other-worldly light flooded in from the great room of our home. Disembodied voices routed the night’s peace and bellowed my name.
My wobbly legs took me to the front door and the tumult beyond.
“FBI! Come out with your hands up!”
The horror show was all about creating an incident. But why? Who cares why! I was going to end up on the short end of the stick if I didn’t handle this correctly and with cooperation. Head spinning, I flashed back to all the times the news reported people being fatally shot after authorities “thought they had a gun in their hand.”
I set my trusty cane beside the door. It would be a sad tale for my wife to have to tell at the funeral of her disabled veteran husband that he was gunned down by the FBI who mistook a walking stick for a firearm.
Slowly I opened the front door to the blinding glare of searchlights. A scant two feet from the window frame of our house, I could make out the manhole-sized disc of a battering ram flowering from the end of a reinforced steel arm, jutting from total darkness. Oh my God, they’re going to smash a hole in our cottage! I let my left arm trail the storm door behind me to ensure it would close slowly, without a slam that could send these possibly trigger-happy jackanapes into a shooting frenzy.
Stepping forward, I raised my hands as far as they would go, considering their limited mobility resulting from shoulder surgeries and the reattachment of arm to torso with a brass rod. I needed to lift them high enough to appease the invisible screamers without reaching the point of initiating the bolt of pain that would cause me to reflexively pull it back to my body. A sudden movement like that could be fatal in the cloud of red dots from rifle lasers swarming me. This wasn’t the first time a firearm had been pointed at me, but I assure you, this was the first time my life was placed in jeopardy by people from the country I love and served.
<div id="attachment_998997" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-998997" class="wp-image-998997 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Puffin Publishers LLC/Thomas Caldwell" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell.jpg 1365w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Puffin Publishers LLC/Thomas Caldwell</div>
Virginia’s winter was on frigid-blast, the porch an iceberg, and the biting west wind slashed my body. Barefoot, clothed only in underwear and nightshirt, I moved forward to the edge, squinting desperately against the artificial sun in my face, trying to find the first of three steps I knew were there somewhere. Trying not to take a well-intentioned but possibly leg-breaking step into the abyss.
I stepped down blindly, relying upon muscle memory born of doing this a thousand times in broad daylight. Until my foot actually reached step number one, I didn’t know if I would be stable enough to make the climb down on my own. Guided by what I now know was divine intervention, I made each halting step until I felt the ouch of the gravel boundary between deep ruts and frosty grass. The wet lawn was only slightly less chilly than the concrete. I walked slowly, aware of shadowy figures at the edge of my field of vision. Beams of red light stabbed from the dark — rifle and pistol lasers — all merely a trigger pull away from dispatching this 66-year-old retired veteran.
The first of many “what’s going on?” inquiries crossed my lips as the designated vet-wrangler snatched me, powerful arms and hands jutting from an inky veil. With purposeful out-sized strides, he yanked me across the slippery grass, shoving my face hard into the cold metal of a car hood. What I was concerned about now was the abrupt leg-weakening shove at the waist — a bending motion not pleasant for someone like me with a spine immobilized by a jumbled mass of metal spacers and screws.
Amid the clinking of metal on metal, I addressed the faceless being through gritted teeth, informing him that my left arm could no longer naturally rotate in such a way as to reach my back due to reconstructive shoulder surgery—no matter how much he kept twisting it. He was at the point of a spontaneous displacement of the metal screw holding my arm to my body. Thankfully, cold metal cuffs were slapped on my wrists in the front instead. Then it was right back to a face plant on the car hood.
All this outrage was conducted with creatures of the dark still yowling orders in the frigid pre-dawn air. They had me in their snare. What more could they want?
In the midst of a cacophony from hell, I labored to lift my head and, to my utter horror, saw my wife standing in the searchlight’s brutal blaze. Time stopped, as did my heart.
<div id="attachment_999097" style="width: 465px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-999097" class="size-full wp-image-999097" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells.jpg" alt="Courtesy: Thomas Caldwell. https://saveourfarmva.com/ " width="455" height="575" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells.jpg 455w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells-237x300.jpg 237w" sizes=" (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px" />Courtesy: Thomas Caldwell.</div>
For there stood Sharon, barefoot, arms straight out from her sides, clad only in one of my super-sized white T-shirts made nearly transparent in the harsh glare of the spotlights. I could see her shivering as her stance proved she carried no weapon and posed no threat. That did not stop the authoritative commands shouted at her with crude epithets tossed in for good measure.
I couldn’t believe my eyes or my ears as she lifted her arms to reveal a single white sock in each hand and softly asked if she could put them on her feet.
As the screamers moved closer to her, to my heart-stopping terror, I saw the devil’s red fireflies dancing all over her face and body. The monsters had drawn down fully automatic weapons of death on my Angel!
My heart cried, “They didn’t kill me, so now they want to kill my wife!”
Sharon stood there, innocently holding a pair of socks and holding my heart—my whole world—in her hands. Her stance was nearly identical to that of Jesus, hung on the cross by hateful elitists who knew not what they were doing. She did not seem to understand the gravity of this bile-laced situation.
My memory flashed back to the murder at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the day an FBI sniper shot and killed Vicki Weaver as she stood on her porch, holding her infant in her arms.
This scene played out for an eternity and still haunts me every day.
“Father, God!” I begged, “God in Heaven, Father, please don’t let them kill my wife! Abba, Father! Please don’t let them murder my wife!
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission from the author and Puffin Publishers LLC. “<a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked">The Mouths of the Wicked</a>” by Thomas E. Caldwell (November, 2025/<a href="http://puffinpublishers.com/">PuffinPublishers.com</a>)
<a href="https://saveourfarmva.com/">Thomas E. Caldwell</a> is an author and proud veteran of the United States Navy. A decorated retired Navy Lieutenant Commander, he honorably served our Nation around the world for nearly two decades, principally within the Navy&#8217;s Intelligence Community. He is the author of countless strategic and tactical intelligence assessments and possesses a deep understanding and unique perspective of global and domestic threats to our Nation. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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For all the attention Generation Z gets, we need to start talking about Generation Alpha while there is still time to save them from their older siblings’ dismal futures. Born between 2010 and 2024, Gen Alpha is the youngest living age demographic with its members ranging from toddlers to younger adolescents. Most still have all of high school ahead of them and none have entered the workforce as adults.
American twelfth graders, who are on the younger side of the Gen Z cohort, are at their <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/test-scores-low-reading-math-naep-d87099b6?mod=Searchresults&amp;pos=1&amp;page=1">lowest reading proficiency levels</a> on record. Our broken education system has enabled that steady decline over the last two decades as K-12 schools push forward failing students who cannot read, and college curriculum has made it possible to earn a degree <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/">without reading a whole book</a>. Poor literacy levels have, of course, led to a national crisis with <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/05/lifestyle/gen-z-turns-to-ai-for-homework-essays-and-college-apps/">writing ability</a>.
This confluence of trends — combined with the rise of AI — risks Gen Alpha’s future success in work and in life. The good news is that the solution is found at home. Parents can make the home life more conducive to their children’s future success by prioritizing off-screen reading … yes, physical books. Reading books is vital to keeping children ahead of the AI curve. And the home is where children need to become good readers so they can go on to become good writers.
Writing is the necessary transferable skill young people must perform to apply critical thinking, self-awareness, and logic to their jobs, tasks, and everyday lives. Lack of proficiency in the classroom leads to lack of accountability and responsibility in adulthood.
It is impossible to be a good writer without being a good reader, which makes fixing reading proficiency all the more urgent for today’s elementary and middle schoolers. As <a href="https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/agentic-ai-vs-generative-ai">generative and agentic AI</a> reorganize the workforce, high social and economic status will not be won by those that can simply use AI well, but those who think better than AI and can apply the technology in the production of new knowledge.
The urgency is today. A grown adult with poor reading proficiency is already lost and will spend the rest of his life behind the curve of those that can read, write, think, and do better. That string of verbs is not a list — it is a sequence of inseverable skills necessary to achieve success. If that prognostication seems bleak, that’s because children who use AI to do schoolwork do not see the pitfall lying beyond short-term convenience.
Children&#8217;s futures may come to resemble Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World in which the lower castes of menial workers toil under the elite few who are capable of intelligent output. AI <a href="https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/02/ai-can-catalyze-and-inhibit-your-creativity-here-is-how/">does not create</a> new ideas or knowledge; it produces and iterates content based on past information and results. It yields answers derivative of other people’s intellectual labor without activating or engaging critical reasoning skills in the user.
The solution is for children to read good books that stand the test of time and have complex sentence structure. Reading early and reading often in childhood <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_reading_is_important_children_brain_development#:~:text=We%20discovered%20that%20reading%20for,time%20spent%20on%20electronic%20devices.">unlocks</a> intellectual and productive potential <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/foundational-learning">later in life</a>. Parents should replace at least some of their children’s screentime with good books. The number of books children read is less important than the quality of stories they read. They should mix non-fiction with fiction. The topics and sub-genres do not matter. It is the complement between truth in fact, and truth in expression that helps cultivate minds and critical reasoning.
Millennials are the parents of Gen Alpha and their childhoods model how to select rewarding books in a digital age filled with screentime. Millennials grew up on Reading Rainbow and Wishbone. Reading Rainbow brought children’s books to life with lively narration and Wishbone retold William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Walter Scott, Walter Irving, and other great authors. 
Parents can find worthwhile books about the animals, fantasy settings, sports, historical figures, and situations depicted in their children’s favorite shows, movies, and games. That is the strategy Reading Rainbow and Wishbone deployed: limited but enriching television content as a tool to catalyze lifelong love of reading and intellectual exploration in children. 
Technology has crushed the inner drive and desire to read, and AI is poised to turn that absence into personal failure on a mass scale. Meeting children where they are with a physical book can transition them away from complete dependence on digital technology for entertainment. Exposing children to slightly more literature can open up their worlds and increase chances for success.
I already dubbed Gen Z as the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gen-z-shaping-itself-into-wasted-generation">“Wasted Generation”</a> in early 2024, and that still holds true. But if nothing changes substantially, Gen Alpha will suffer from more severe and longer-lasting consequences than the arbitrary concentrated learning-loss Gen Z underwent during COVID-19.
Even with the lightning speed of President Trump’s educational reforms, it will still take years for reforms implemented today to take hold and reverse prevailing trends. Let’s focus on where we can make a long-term difference for most people. That focus needs to be on Gen Alpha. Let’s help them now while we can. Cultivating and encouraging reading at home is the best way for parents to set their children up for success in our brave new world.
* * *
Zachary Marschall, PhD is Editor-in-Chief of Leadership Institute&#8217;s Campus Reform and an adjunct assistant professor of arts administration at the University of Kentucky.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan’s latest installment in his Cameron Winter detective series is flying off the shelves, becoming the most popular new release among similar books on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Dark-Cameron-Mysteries/dp/B0F95HQXQF/ref=zg_bsnr_g_7538398011_d_sccl_1/130-6421290-9842518?isALC=true">Amazon</a>. 
Klavan’s book “<a href="https://store.dailywire.com/products/after-that-the-dark-cameron-winter-mysteries-book-5?variant=43284484587580">After That, the Dark</a>,” was the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/7538398011/ref=zg_b_hnr_7538398011_1">No. 1 book</a> on Amazon’s new releases in private investigator mysteries as of Friday afternoon. The book climbed to the top spot just days after its October 28 release. 
“After That, the Dark” is the fifth installment in Klavan’s USA Today bestselling Cameron Winter mystery series. This story begins with Cameron Winter falling in love, but it soon becomes a mystery cloaked in conspiracy and death. 
After finally working up the courage to contact the attractive therapist Gwendolyn Lord, he finds himself immersed in a passion that feels heaven-sent. When Gwendolyn tells him about a true-life “locked room mystery,” Winter feels compelled to investigate.
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In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a solid citizen named Owen McKay suddenly went mad and killed his wife and child. Locked in a padded cell and monitored on video, he was nonetheless discovered dead from a projectile fired into his head. As Winter begins to ask questions, he finds Tulsa officials have been intimidated into silence by a killer who once tried to attack Winter during his days as a government assassin. What’s more, another mysterious death, just like McKay’s, has taken place in Connecticut. And both murders seem linked to a sinister billionaire who once clashed with Winter’s old mentor, the Recruiter.
Winter’s past and present are coming together in a single dangerous conspiracy. And though Winter desperately wants to escape his career as an assassin, his love for Gwendolyn is deepening quickly and he will do anything―and kill anyone―to protect her.
“After That, the Dark” is available now at <a href="https://store.dailywire.com/products/after-that-the-dark-cameron-winter-mysteries-book-5?utm_campaign=after-that-the-dark&amp;utm_content=20251031&amp;utm_source=editorial">Daily Wire Shop</a>, where readers can also obtain a <a href="https://store.dailywire.com/products/after-that-the-dark-cameron-winter-mysteries-book-5?utm_campaign=after-that-the-dark&amp;utm_content=20251031&amp;utm_source=editorial">signed copy</a> of Klavan’s latest hair-raising mystery. 
Want to read more before you buy? Check out the prologue and first chapter of “After That, the Dark” for free at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/excerpt-get-a-sneak-peek-of-andrew-klavans-forthcoming-book-after-that-the-dark">The Daily Wire</a>. 
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Andrew Klavan’s Newest Mystery Hits The Shelves. Read The Prologue And First Chapter.

You may recognize Leland Vittert from his work as an anchor on NewsNation. What you may not recognize, however, is that Leland got to where he is after being diagnosed with autism.
With renewed scrutiny on the causes of autism, his new book “Born Lucky” is flying off the shelves, landing at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. It&#8217;s not just a story about how Leland managed to build a successful life with autism, but also about the people who sacrificed to make that possible.
So when we asked about publishing an excerpt from it, Leland suggested the afterword, written by his dad. After reading it, we understand why. But we asked him to explain it to our readers as well.
We hope you enjoy. — The Editors
* * *
When I was diagnosed with what we now know to be autism, my father quit his job and became a full time parent, coach, and friend. It was, as he describes it, my only hope. He felt hopeless and helpless and with good reason. The psychologist who tested me told him there was “generally not” anything parents could do for kids in my situation and it was “difficult to understand” what&#8217;s going on in my head.
My father’s mission to adapt me to the world, rather than the world to me, took him 15 years – to be fair, I am now 43 and he is still working on it.
In my new book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; I tell the story of my father’s journey and how he never told anyone of my diagnosis: not teachers, not therapists, not his friends, and not even me!
<div id="attachment_985495" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985495" class="size-large wp-image-985495" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Leland Vittert" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Leland Vittert</div>
Thanks to my dad (and mom) things have worked out pretty well. We endured the hell that was middle school, where principals told my parents I was “weird” and teachers compared me disfavorably to their dog’s asses. I am now married to a magnificent woman and I’m a national cable television anchor. What dad didn&#8217;t know at the time was that the hell of middle school would be great training for a Washington newsroom.
Dad says he isn&#8217;t a hero. I would argue that point, but he can describe himself however he wants.
At first, he didn&#8217;t want to tell this story because the book would contain my darkest moments. So, we made a deal: I would write the manuscript and at the end, if he didn&#8217;t like it, we wouldn&#8217;t turn it in to HarperCollins. To be honest, I had no plan if he said he did not like it.
But at that moment of decision, I asked him a question: If, when I was originally diagnosed, the psychologist had given him our book “Born Lucky’ (rather than saying there was not much to do), how would he have felt?
He responded that he would have read it every week because it would give him hope.
The book is hope for every parent with a kid who is struggling, not just with autism but anxiety, ADHD, difficulty at school, etc., and proof of what a father and mother’s love can do.
That’s why I asked my dad to write the afterword in the book in the form of thoughts for parents facing some of the same challenges he did.
I would like to share that with you now.
— Leland Vittert
<div id="attachment_985155" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O3L1UKLC7BU8&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MCP08BnE6vI4ikVNkhJBg72CUwiVpmvlL8qZybVTSZLx_BEqUQGmyDmGpK7jXlU7iZCcob-eOUDY6rbg3C1NjBxWSU2Qe7cCc8CaNp8qCwQ7jeHWCo-3GvFE_ZYtE5X1HiiDd4mb-Kg5aF8mQtn0KNs6EYCmCB-12b31vB_-5jrAx6Zuj6Gsjf3oFbwy2yo9QmShQlmJ7m55riGBazN3-QDQblrGsUiWAs0R9M9NLPk.z4MTp6JWwZEIj8QmHoKGWHoBiTGIr1B6V_Uz9VbpCLo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=vittert&amp;qid=1760449473&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=vittert%2Cstripbooks%2C112&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985155" class="size-large wp-image-985155" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover credit: Harper Horizon" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover credit: Harper Horizon</div>
* * *
The following excerpt is taken from the Afterword from the book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; by Leland Vittert with Don Yaeger. (Harper Horizon, September 2025).
 * * *
<h3>Afterword From Dad</h3>
As you have already read, Lucky, decades ago, placed me on a pedestal.
This occurred simply as a result of his fundamental needs, that there was no one else, no other man, to help him and hold him. Consequently, it might appear in this book that I offered him support as a secure and knowledgeable father. That was not true.
I was scared for years. I still am to a degree, uncertain quite often and holding on for my family till sleep comes, bringing a few hours of peace.
For all of us who are in the most difficult and complex battle to help our special children survive, there is no finish line.
I am positive that every father and mother engaged in the monumental effort to help and protect and love our challenged children are dealing with the same issues.
Believe me, despite Lucky’s admiration, I did only what any father would want to do.
All of us in this battle, this fight against what feels like the world has left our side, are in the same place.
We all feel enormous love and responsibility to those little ones who are absolutely lost and, without us, alone. Mothers and fathers need to know that there is definitely hope.
I am not that smart nor capable to have known what to do for him, except to love him and listen always to his cries for help, and to enlist a couple of personal rules that seemed to make sense in a frightening circumstance.
Let me say that his mother, Carol, was the unsung angel here. She not only had to hold Lucky, but also me.
<div id="attachment_985497" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985497" class="size-large wp-image-985497" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Leland Vittert" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98.jpg 1829w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Leland Vittert</div>
I really did not know what was ahead, who could help, or if the verdict was just “give up.” Well, the purpose of this book is to offer hope, real hope. Here are the principles that I wrote down for myself when Lucky was diagnosed:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Have no expectations about the future.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Under no circumstances let your child feel that they have ever disappointed you. EVER, under no circumstance.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">You are the depository of their hurt, their frustration, and their humiliations. You must listen and listen—morning before school and late into the night.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Tell them that they have the right stuff for life. That the currency of high school, etc., is not the currency of life. There are many more years after the six years of junior high and high school.</li>
</ol>
There were times where I reflexively responded to a seemingly endless difficult day with temper. Those were the most regrettable of times.
I fully understand that so many had and will have far more significant challenges and difficulties than we had.
You will need to remember that your child will continue, no matter the advancement, to simply be themself. This is not a broken arm that heals; it is the way they were made.
Together, whatever the circumstance or how dire the situation, there is hope, good hope, but it will require endless understanding and the firm belief that your child can be better.
With the advent of so much bullying and other negative effects from today’s social media culture, it will be hard to escape. We did not have to address that issue.
We did not discuss Lucky’s issues or labels with anyone, nor did we seek outside assistance. Perhaps that would have been better. I do not know.
Whatever your child’s issue, I believe their best chance to progress is you and your love and patience and, in particular, your unwavering belief in them.
It was felt that writing this book could possibly help. There are so many of us who were and are lost in the nightmare of this despair.
If you are in this fight, it will be a challenge that is the most worthwhile of your life. It will probably take years and years, but it will be worth it.
If someone would have told me about what the future held for our little boy, I would have likely yielded right then. I would have been terribly wrong to do so.
If I can do it, you can. You can make an enormous difference for the ones you love dearly.
With all my heart, I wish for you and your child a future that you will make better together.
— Mark Vittert
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission from Harper Horizon. &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; by Leland Vittert with Don Yaeger. (Harper Horizon, September 2025).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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‘My Father Never Gave Up On Me’: Leland Vittert On Being ‘Born Lucky’

'My Father Never Gave Up On Me': Leland Vittert On Being 'Born Lucky'

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Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro is a bestselling author yet again with his latest book, “Lions &amp; Scavengers: The True Story of America (And Her Critics).” 
Shapiro reached the coveted New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2025/09/21/hardcover-nonfiction/">bestsellers list</a> shortly after the release of “Lions &amp; Scavengers,” cementing his place as one of the conservative movement’s top writers. This comes after Shapiro moved up the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Scavengers-Story-America-Critics/dp/1668097885/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0">Amazon bestseller list at launch</a>. “Lions &amp; Scavengers” marks Shapiro’s third-straight book to hit the Times bestsellers list after the “Right Side of History” and the “Authoritarian Moment” became bestsellers in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2019/04/14/">2019</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2021/08/15/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/">2021</a>, respectively. 
The Daily Wire host called “Lions &amp; Scavengers” his “most important book.” The book was written following Hamas’ horrific attacks on innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023. The destructive “scavenger” mindset that Shapiro highlights in the book shows an issue even larger than recent gross antisemitism and attacks against Jews. 
“This is something different. It is a united, coalitional hatred of the West,” he says.
Lions, like America’s founding fathers, strive for the highest good, building systems that promote freedom, prosperity, and equality of opportunity. Meanwhile, Scavengers degrade these ideals, spreading resentment and entitlement that threaten to dismantle the foundations of Western civilization. The attacks on the West call for the lions to rise up and defend the traditions and values that we hold dear, Shapiro argues. Only if the lions triumph can America’s success continue to the next generation. 
“We need to be a civilization of Lions. We need to teach our children to be Lions, and to fight the Scavengers,” Shapiro writes. 
Signed copies of “Lions &amp; Scavengers” are still available at <a href="https://store.dailywire.com/products/lions-and-scavengers?utm_campaign=ben-book&amp;utm_content=20250902&amp;utm_source=slash-ben">Daily Wire Shop</a>.
<a href="https://store.dailywire.com/products/lions-and-scavengers?_pos=4&amp;_sid=670db8032&amp;_ss=r"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-978441 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT-576x576.png" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT-576x576.png 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT-300x300.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT-150x150.png 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT-768x768.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/1x1-Simple-NYT.png 1080w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" /></a>

Lions & Scavengers NYT Bestseller

Ben Shapiro Hits NYT Bestsellers List With Roaring Success Of ‘Lions & Scavengers’

Ben Shapiro

New York Times

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult went on a full TikTok tirade over the reactions to Charlie Kirk’s murder.
The 59-year-old fiction writer, who has sold more than 40 million copies of her 28 published novels and short stories, is receiving a significant amount of backlash for her angry rant.
“An undeserved violent death does not negate the terrible pain that he inflicted on others,” <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1967347462051704996">Picoult said</a>. “I&#8217;m not buying into the hypocrisy.”
“You won&#8217;t trick me into believing it&#8217;s just about respect for life when your side has cheered families being ripped apart, when your side has proudly supported Alligator Alcatraz merch,” the “My Sister’s Keeper” author continued.
Picoult went on to accuse conservatives of “immediately jump[ing] to blame trans people and targeting HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), even though — shocker! — the shooter was a cis, white man from a Trump-supporting family who was raised to love guns.”
“I have always condemned all gun violence and I will continue to do so, but, as usual, the right only cares about violence when it happens to them. So, you know what? Miss me with the fake self-righteousness.”
Her rant spread quickly on X, sparking fierce opposition. By Monday morning, the TikTok was still public, but once it went viral, Picoult locked it down to private.
“Totally unhinged,” Libs of TikTok replied to the clip.
“Jodi, you write novels where the bad guy always gets exposed in the end. Congratulations, you’ve just made yourself the villain in real life,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/merikuh/status/1967347960976654797">wrote</a>.
“Another brainwashed liberal spreading lies about Charlie Kirk. You can guarantee these people never watched any of Charlie’s videos. They live in their echo chambers believing each other’s lies,” a third agreed, vowing to boycott Picoult’s books.
This isn’t the first time the woke side of the publishing industry has shown its blatant bias regarding Kirk’s assassination. Author Stephen King was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stephen-king-walks-back-lie-about-charlie-kirk-with-half-hearted-apology">forced to apologize</a> after falsely accusing Kirk of advocating for gay people being stoned to death. 
The horror writer admitted his statement was untrue and deleted the original after social media comments flooded in, with followers proving him wrong.

Jodi Picoult

Author Jodi Picoult Melts Down On TikTok, Lashes Out At Charlie Kirk Supporters

Author Jodi Picoult Directs TikTok Tantrum At Charlie Kirk Supporters

assassination

Charlie Kirk

TikTok

We&#8217;ve known for a very long time in this country that if you said the wrong thing about the trans issue, you could be canceled.
But now, finally, there are people — heretofore on the Left — who are acknowledging that the threat of cancellation has been real.
This is just one of the beautiful flowering fruits of the Trump administration: people are now free to say things they weren’t allowed to say before.
It’s not clear whether people are deciding that they want to say what is currently more popular or if they genuinely repent having been bullied into acceptance of the trans agenda.
On Wednesday, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous bestselling author, explained his amended point of view on transgender athletes, meaning men playing against women in sports. He was speaking specifically about a 2022 appearance at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, where he moderated a panel discussion in which they talked about the path forward for the inclusion of trans athletes in sports, meaning men competing against women.
On Wednesday, Gladwell stated to 2022 panel co-host Ross Tucker, &#8220;I’m ashamed of my performance at that panel because I share your position 100%, and I was cowed. The idea of saying anything on this issue — I was, I believe in retrospect — in a dishonest way, I was objective in a dishonest way.”
That is honest. Many people were so scared of saying what was obviously true that they didn&#8217;t say it.
This happens all the time in politics. It happened in Great Britain during the Rotherham grooming scandal, when members of the media specifically decided not to cover the fact that there were Muslim grooming gangs, Muslim men, who were grooming underage white girls for sex and then passing them around.
People in the media knew about this, and they decided not to say anything, because to say something would have resulted in censure and public opprobrium as well as people in power suggesting that you were somehow in league with the Right.
And for a very long time in this country and the UK, being in league with the Right was code for being thrown out of public life.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2273-unspoken-truths-on-trans-can-now-be-said?elementPosition=1&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
I don&#8217;t believe that every view is equivalent. I&#8217;m not a moral relativist. I don&#8217;t believe that we should take every view with equal seriousness. I do think that there is an Overton window, meaning the arena of valuable discussion.
The problem is that the Left shut the Overton window so much that if you disagreed with the Left and fundamentally true principles such as “men are not women,” they would throw you out.
So, for many members of the Right, the question becomes: what do you do when Malcolm Gladwell says something like this? What do you do?
The answer is you probably should offer forgiveness. You probably should offer some form of generosity. While you can make the argument that what Gladwell did was cowardly, it’s more about the insane echo chamber that exists in so many of our elite spaces.
The reality is, if you said what Malcolm Gladwell now says in 85% of the country, you&#8217;d be totally fine; it is the mainstream view.
But if you were in the elite circles in which Malcolm Gladwell travels, you would have lost your social standing. You might have lost your job; people would stop reviewing your books. There was a real risk attached.
It is a credit to President Trump and the American people that the Overton window has been opened again. The American people didn’t want to do this anymore. They were done.
That’s not true in Great Britain, where cancel culture has been enshrined in government policy.
What prevents that from happening in the United States is not our magical adherence to First Amendment principles as a people. Unfortunately, there are many, many people in the United States who — if they had the opportunity —would vote to curb free speech. If you look at the polls of young people, young people overwhelmingly believe that hate speech should trump free speech. According to many polls, young people believe there should be legal limits on the kinds of speech one should be allowed to say out loud.
What protects us is the structure of the Constitution. It is the fact that the Constitution bars Congress from doing what the British government is doing in Great Britain. And the Supreme Court has made very clear that in deference to the Constitution, free speech must be protected at the highest possible level.
The Founders knew what they were doing.
And President Trump, by opening the Overton window and making it possible for those on the Right to be heard and not canceled, is paying tribute to the Founders in the best possible way.

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