Justice

The Book-Burning Campaign That Saved a Public Library

A social media hoax outwitted an anti-tax group and galvanized voters in Troy, Michigan.
Courtesy of the Leo Burnett agency

Another day, another strange saga from the small city of Troy, Michigan. Late last year local officials turned down $8.5 million in free federal money for a transit center. (City council members eventually approved a scaled-back project.) Weeks later news emerged that the city's tea party mayor, Janice Daniels, made an anti-gay comment in public, again.

Now we learn that it took a book-burning campaign to save the city's library. Well, kind of.