Freedom for the thought that we hate : a biography of the First Amendment /
Lewis, Anthony, 1927-2013.
Freedom for the thought that we hate : a biography of the First Amendment / Anthony Lewis. - New York : Perseus Books Group, 2007. - xv, 221 pages ; 22 cm.
Located in the Library at the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom. Clarke Hall.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Beginnings -- 'Odious or contemptible' -- "As all life is an experiment" -- Defining freedom -- Freedom and privacy -- A press privilege? -- Fear itself -- 'Another's lyric' -- 'Vagabonds and outlaws' -- Thoughts that we hate -- Balancing interests -- Freedom of thought.
More than any other people on earth, Americans are free to say and write what they think. The media can air the secrets of the White House, the boardroom, or the bedroom with little fear of punishment or penalty. The reason for this extraordinary freedom is not a superior culture of tolerance, but just fourteen words in our most fundamental legal document: the free expression clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution. In this book, the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our constitution. Although Americans have gleefully and sometimes outrageously exercised their right to free speech since before the nation's founding, the Supreme Court did not begin to recognize this right until 1919. Freedom of speech and the press as we know it today is surprisingly recent. The author tells us how these rights were created, revealing a story of hard choices, heroic (and some less heroic) judges, and fascinating and eccentric defendants who forced the legal system to come face-to-face with one of America's great founding ideas.
9780465039173 0465039170
2007040249
Freedom of speech--United States.
Freedom of the press--United States.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom of the press.
United States.
KF 4770 / .L49 2007
342.7308/53
Freedom for the thought that we hate : a biography of the First Amendment / Anthony Lewis. - New York : Perseus Books Group, 2007. - xv, 221 pages ; 22 cm.
Located in the Library at the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom. Clarke Hall.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Beginnings -- 'Odious or contemptible' -- "As all life is an experiment" -- Defining freedom -- Freedom and privacy -- A press privilege? -- Fear itself -- 'Another's lyric' -- 'Vagabonds and outlaws' -- Thoughts that we hate -- Balancing interests -- Freedom of thought.
More than any other people on earth, Americans are free to say and write what they think. The media can air the secrets of the White House, the boardroom, or the bedroom with little fear of punishment or penalty. The reason for this extraordinary freedom is not a superior culture of tolerance, but just fourteen words in our most fundamental legal document: the free expression clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution. In this book, the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our constitution. Although Americans have gleefully and sometimes outrageously exercised their right to free speech since before the nation's founding, the Supreme Court did not begin to recognize this right until 1919. Freedom of speech and the press as we know it today is surprisingly recent. The author tells us how these rights were created, revealing a story of hard choices, heroic (and some less heroic) judges, and fascinating and eccentric defendants who forced the legal system to come face-to-face with one of America's great founding ideas.
9780465039173 0465039170
2007040249
Freedom of speech--United States.
Freedom of the press--United States.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom of the press.
United States.
KF 4770 / .L49 2007
342.7308/53