{"product_id":"9781448156382","title":"Sacred Cows: Twenty Years On: The Rushdie Affair - How It Seemed Then","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1989, after the Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing \u003ci\u003eThe Satanic Verses\u003c\/i\u003e, Fay Weldon published \u003ci\u003eSacred Cows\u003c\/i\u003e, a pamphlet critical of the fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Weldon’s pamphlet received a lot of attention on publication – mostly criticism of her perceived ‘Islamophobia’ – but Weldon set out to enforce the notion that no religion should have the right to issue threats and intimidation; no religion should hinder free expression. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eSacred Cows, \u003c\/i\u003eWeldon criticizes all aspects of British society – Murdoch and the \u003ci\u003eSun\u003c\/i\u003e’s page 3 girls; white, liberal complacence; problems with education and the NHS – and argues that the affront to Muslim people in Britain was not caused by publication of \u003ci\u003eThe Satanic Verses\u003c\/i\u003e itself but rather by the ‘awfulness of the society we have allowed to grow up around us’. \u003ci\u003eThe Satanic Verses\u003c\/i\u003e is remedy, according to Weldon, to a fractured, ailing society. Publishing literature like this proves that our society ‘may yet be well and our brave new God of individual conscience may yet arise’.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally published by Chatto\u0026amp;Windus as part of the 'Chatto Counterblasts' strand, this ebook edition is reissued with a new introduction by the author, as part of the Brain Shots series: the pre-eminent source for high quality, short-form digital non-fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47128323948784,"sku":"9781448156382","price":4.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781448156382_p0.jpg?v=1763831473","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781448156382","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}