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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Promotes a Peacemaking Book Amid a Book-Removal Dispute

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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt, went on sale in September 2026. Its promotion has drawn criticism because Cox signed a Utah law that sets a statewide process for removing certain instructional material from public-school access. The dispute is about the tension between his call for less contempt and his role in enacting that policy—not a claim that he personally selected every title removed.

What Cox’s book is—and why its promotion drew criticism

Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt is a book by Spencer Cox, Utah’s Republican governor. Penguin Random House lists the hardcover at 304 pages, with a U.S. list price of $30 and an on-sale date of September 8, 2026. The list price is the publisher’s suggested price, not a guarantee of what a retailer charges. Penguin Random House’s catalog listing gives the ISBN as 9798217063628.

The criticism reported by Stephanie Mencimer in an October 2, 2026 article centers on a contrast: Cox promotes peacemaking and less contempt while supporting a state policy that can remove books from student access in public schools. Mencimer reported that the book promotion drew backlash and that Cox was not holding book events in Utah at the time described. Those are details of her reporting, not independently established statewide findings.

Salt Lake City bookseller Ken Sanders, quoted by Mencimer, questioned the contrast: “I would have to say he doesn’t understand irony at all,” Sanders said. “Or how would he title his book like that?”

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What Utah’s HB 29 does

Utah’s 2024 bill, HB 29, is titled “Sensitive Material Review Amendments.” It amended the state’s process for reviewing sensitive instructional material. Under the bill, a statewide threshold is reached when an objective sensitive-material determination is made in at least three school districts, or in at least two districts and five charter schools. The bill provides for the material to be removed from student access.

The statute and the Utah State Board of Education use the language of “sensitive material” and removal from student access. Mencimer’s article describes the issue in the broader political language of “book banning.” Those terms frame the same controversy differently: the law describes a defined review and removal process, while critics use “book banning” to emphasize the effect on students’ access to challenged books.

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The governor’s office announced that Cox signed HB 29 on March 18, 2024. The enacted bill text sets out the threshold and removal requirement; the governor’s signing announcement confirms the signing date.

Statewide removals are not the same as a governor choosing each title

HB 29’s statewide mechanism depends on determinations across school districts and charter schools; that is different from the governor personally deciding which individual books to remove. The distinction matters when assessing responsibility: Cox signed the law establishing the mechanism, while individual determinations and their implementation occur through the school-material review process.

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The policy described here concerns student access in public schools. It should not be read as a claim that a title is unavailable to adults, cannot be bought, or is barred from every setting outside public-school access.

A publisher spokesperson, quoted by Mencimer, disputed the premise that Utah was banning books and said Cox had no role in removing books from schools. The spokesperson also argued that refusing to engage with people one disagrees with contributes to the current political climate. That is the publisher’s position as reported in the article; it does not change the fact that Cox signed HB 29.

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Where to check Utah’s current removal list

The Utah State Board of Education’s Library Media page links to the statewide titles-to-remove list and explains the statewide threshold. The page said the list was last updated September 28, 2026; because the list can change, use the agency page rather than an older article’s tally for a current count. Check the Utah State Board of Education Library Media page.

Mencimer’s October 2 article reported 44 books removed statewide. That number is an article-level report, not a count independently confirmed here against the agency spreadsheet, and should not be treated as today’s total.

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What critics say about the peacemaking message

The dispute is not simply whether people should lower the temperature of political debate. Jessica Horton, co-founder of Let Davis Read, told Mencimer that calling for depolarization is worthwhile, but said leaders also need to challenge allies when they do something wrong. Her criticism is that a general appeal for civility can ring hollow if it is not accompanied by opposition to policies that restrict student access.

Mencimer also quoted Cox saying at an August event, “Civilization cannot continue if we can’t read.” The quotation illustrates why the book-and-policy contrast has resonated with critics: they see reading as central to civic life, while objecting to a law they say limits what students can read in school.

What the reported approval figure does—and does not—show

Mencimer’s October 2 article said a poll showed Cox’s net approval in Utah had declined 23 points since April. The article excerpt does not identify the poll or provide its underlying dataset, so that figure should be understood only as what the article reported, not as a verified measure of the effect of the book controversy or HB 29.

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