Synopsis
A journalist's accessible history of how American courts built robust First Amendment protection, especially for offensive, dissenting, and unpopular speech.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workA society proves its commitment to free expression precisely by protecting the speech it finds most repugnant, not the speech it already welcomes.
It locates the real test of liberty at the margins, where the temptation to silence is strongest and the principle matters most.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Jacob Mchangama, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.
Reading note
Follow the landmark cases as a developing argument about why tolerance of the intolerable is the price of liberty.
Best paired with
Jacob Mchangama, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media