When Jon Ronson noticed a great renaissance of public shaming sweeping our land he decided to investigate it. At first it seemed like the democratisation of justice. The silent majority were getting a voice. But what did we do with it?

Jon Ronson travelled the world meeting the subjects of high profile public shamings. They're mostly like us - people who, say, made a bad joke on social media. But when their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with hurricane force and they're torn apart, demonised, sometimes even fired from their job. Do they deserve it? Are our actions justified? Or are we using shame as a form of social control?

Now including a new chapter about the author's own experience of being publicly shamed, this is an honest, moving, and very funny book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws - and the very scary part we all play in it.