In a free society, where nearly anything can be published, the trick is in the marketing.

I have been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Robert Spencer's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)and in spite of the fact that I live in a small city and have access to numerous large bookstores, found it impossible to locate. I scoured local Barnes and Noble and Borders locations for both this book and Brigitte Gabriel's Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America and could not find either one. I ended up ordering them from Amazon.

It was a fascinating education in what mainstream bookstores will carry. I do understand that they must carry what is marketable and likely to sell. One can find other conservative theory oriented books, such as Bill O'Reilly's newest, Culture Warrior and Ann Coulter's standbys Godless: The Church of Liberalism and How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)But it can be argued that books like these are proven market-friendly and the store can sell them by dozens. The books I was looking for are more obscure.

But browsing through the history and current events sections of these stores, it occurred to me that several books exist in one copy each - someone thought it reasonable then to order one or two copys of certain books, knowing that they might sit on the shelf for months. So why was I unable to find some specific books, which were also extremely relevant to current events, were relatively new releases, but not as in keeping with the current polically correct ideology? I can't help but think that the subject matter simply makes some people uncomfortable.

To be fair, I did find some books on the subjects I sought. In each case, these books existed in one copy, and in only one bookstore. I can't help but think that the reason I couldn't locate these books is the same reason that the network nightly news slants far left in its reporting, that young men and women in America hear in their classrooms a revisionist version of world and U.S. history, and our newspapers giddily celebrate the narrow victory of a political party that has no realistic agenda.

One might argue that these books are not available because no one cares about them. I don't think that is true - I am more inclined to believe that these books would be popular reads if the general reading public ever saw them displayed. I am not suggesting some vast conspiracy. I am suggesting that in human nature, there are naturally many sheep and few shepherds (in today's political climate, shepherds are not popular). The revisionist mantra - after years of its maturing into the current monster form - has become so common and so acceptable in our society that few are able to think about the long-term consequences of self-delusion on a national scale. It has become so non-politically correct to speak honestly about Islam and its real history, that there is some sort of automatic little red alarm in the brains of so many people, when encountering a truth that makes them uncomfortable. Unfortunately these people include newscasters, writers and editors, professors, politicians, and bookshop managers.

Further proof of this phenomenon is given by the fact that on these same bookshelves - from store to store without fail - there is so shortage of pro-Islamic literature, extolling its peace-loving nature and other virtues. In a society where we must protect free press, I don't object to the presence of these books - I would simply like to see some balance. I for one don't advocate that sheep are stupid. But they need realistic and balanced information in order to make informed choices.

My fear is that the current climate allows only specific information to be most easily accessible, and in that climate realistic opinions cannot flourish. As many great thinkers have pointed out through the centuries, the death of our great society won't come about through violence from the outside - we will implode within choking on the poison of polical correctness.

In the spirit of this argument, I am going to begin posting a list of "books they don't want you to read".