"Tyrants, not books, kill authors."

Has anyone done a quantitative analysis of whether some publication patterns do correlate with a higher mortality risk even today?

Investigative journalism, I'd wager.

War correspondent in Gaza

https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on...

Even fantasy stories about religion, can be quite dangerous, too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses

Also I wonder if it would vary by region, in the U.S.

“What is clear, however, is that punishment does not correlate to a book's popularity, or its truthfulness, or the quality of its scholarship. An author's madness is rarely taken into account when offense is perceived, and neither is haplessness. It's upsetting how many writers seem to have become fatalities entirely by accident.”

This makes me think of the last long podcast from Jeff Bezos with Lex Friedman, where he explains how we are not really “Truth telling creatures, but social creatures.” in his example of people that were more inclined as to be socially accepted, were more prone to survive, against those who spoke truth and provoked others comfort…

Phrasing that as "some people were killed for libel" is much less impressive.

And there are at least a few people included in this book who literally were attempting to organize a rebellion against the throne to install a pretender.

For which, props for the completeness and honesty, at least. Such examples often get overlooked or whitewashed when this kind of discussion happens.

See also: Books (potentially) fatal to their readers.

https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/if-books-could-kill-p...

Back in imperial China, writing a book could get your entire family tree eradicated.

Not one of these writers filled out their EEOC correctly. I have no sympathy.