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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is promoting Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt while facing criticism over his support for a state law that can require certain instructional materials to be removed from student access in public schools. The dispute is about the gap between the book’s call for peacemaking and the consequences critics associate with Utah’s removal process—not a claim that Cox personally selected every title removed.
What the dispute is about
In an October 2, 2026, article, Mother Jones writer Stephanie Mencimer reported backlash to Cox’s book promotion because of his support for Utah’s process for removing certain instructional materials from public-school access. Mencimer also reported that Cox was not holding book events in Utah at the time described. Those are details from her reporting, reproduced in a syndicated version of the article.
The book is Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt, by Spencer Cox. Penguin Random House lists a 304-page hardcover with a U.S. list price of $30, ISBN 9798217063628, and an on-sale date of September 8, 2026. The $30 figure is the publisher’s list price, not a guarantee of the price at a retailer.
Mencimer quoted Salt Lake City bookseller Ken Sanders criticizing 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?” She also quoted Cal Crosby, co-owner of The King’s English bookstore, saying the controversy “was very personal.”
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What Utah’s HB 29 does—and what it does not establish
Utah’s 2024 HB 29, titled “Sensitive Material Review Amendments,” changed the state’s process for determining whether instructional material is sensitive. Under the enacted bill, a determination made by at least three school districts, or by at least two districts and five charter schools, triggers statewide removal from student access. The statute uses the term “sensitive material”; “book banning” is the broader characterization used by critics and in Mencimer’s article.
The governor’s office announced that Cox signed HB 29 on March 18, 2024. That makes his support for the legislation a matter of public record, but it is distinct from personally choosing each title on a removal list. 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 statewide process concerns student access in public schools; it does not, by itself, establish that a title is unavailable in bookstores, public libraries, or other settings.
How to check the current statewide list
The Utah State Board of Education’s Library Media page provides the current implementation reference and links to the statewide titles-to-remove list. The page said its list was last updated September 28, 2026. Because that spreadsheet can change, an older reported count should not be treated as the current total.
- Open the Utah State Board of Education Library Media page.
- Find the statewide titles-to-remove list linked from the page and check the spreadsheet’s update date.
- Use the list itself for the current titles; do not infer a current count from a news article published earlier.
What the article reported, and what remains unverified here
Mencimer’s October 2 article reported 44 books removed statewide and a 23-point decline in Cox’s net approval in Utah since April. The article excerpt does not identify the poll behind the approval figure, and the underlying list count was not independently verified against the state spreadsheet here. Treat both figures as claims reported in that article, not as independently confirmed current statistics.
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Mencimer also quoted Jessica Horton, co-founder of Let Davis Read, arguing that leaders should challenge allies when their actions are wrong. At an August event, the article quoted Cox saying, “Civilization cannot continue if we can’t read.” The two statements capture the dispute’s central tension: whether a general appeal for civility and reading is consistent with a governor’s support for a policy that restricts student access to particular books.
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