James Fishback: Speaking Up: Against the Grain

By JESUS ABEL

SPEAKING UP: AGAINST THE GRAIN
by James Fishback

James Fishback was once a rising star in the elite world of high school debate until he saw it for what it really was: a machine more interested in conformity than critical thinking. Speaking Up: Against the Grain is his unapologetic, inside-out account of how America's debate culture stopped being a training ground for free speech and became a battleground for ideological control.

From firsthand stories of censorship and bias to the founding of Incubate Debate a national nonprofit giving students a real platform for open discourse Fishback charts his fight to bring honest, respectful argument back to center stage. This is not just a book about debate. It's a call to anyone who's been told to stay quiet when they should speak out.

Part memoir, part manifesto, Speaking Up is for readers who believe that free thought still matters and that courage isn't going with the flow, but going against it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FJ75X71T
• ISBN13: 9798293213122
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"