Lynn Itagaki, Associate Professor of Literature and Gender Studies, contributed an essay, “The Incivility of Civility,” to Civility Unbound: Contesting a Democratic Value (NYU Press, 2026). In the five-part volume, thought-leaders, policymakers, artists, activists, and scholars examine civility, exploring whether being “civil” is a fundamental good and offering a potential path forward for redeeming this democratic value through accepting differences, facilitating dialogue, and encouraging compromise. “The book takes seriously the idea that civility is always shaped by power,” said a Forbes review. Itagaki spoke at the book’s launch event at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and was a featured panelist in a series of talks on “The Civility Project,” organized by the John Brademas Center at New York University.