In the dark days before the Internet, encyclopedia were the internet. The handful of players (e.g. Britannica, World Book) sold their the information to the entire country. Millions of folk. With very different belief systems. And so encyclopedia companies had to couch their words very, very carefully. A small entry on “abortion” or “Jesus” could offend a large demographic segment and sink the entire series. Encyclopedias were censored by self-appointed committees; academics determined to be ruthlessly “objective.” (They now wear T-shirts that say “I was PC before it meant Personal Computer.”) I’d forgotten just how useless encyclopedias were until I read this morning’s entry in the iEncyclopedia You Asked: Who Owns Guns in America? I didn’t ask, but now that we’re here . . .
