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Title: Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment
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Manufacturer: Basic Books
List Price: $25.00
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| Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books Let Every American Read This | Unless a person goes to law school, it is unlikely that he or she will learn the 200 year old history of the First Amendment...yet is is a fascinating and necessary history to learn. The thesis of the book is that our common notion of what "freedom of speech and press" means in America is not self evident law. In fact, the author explains, our right to criticise the government and its leaders was developed and protected by "activist judges."
Think about the role of activist judges - many of whom are criticised today in certain political circles. Anthony Lewis reminds us that American activist judges used the language that all persons are born free and equal to issue rulings that slavery was against the law as early as 1783. 150 years later it was again activist judges and lawyers who struck down the Espionage Act of World War I which punished speech against the war. So it was only in the twentieth century that the First Amendment was used to protect free speech and condemn a statute that infringed this liberty.
Author Anthony Lewis takes us on a historical journey through First Amendment cases from its beginnings in the constitutional convention to its interpretation by the Jeffersonians and the Federalists to Woodrow Wilson's oppressive statutes, and finally to the more recent cases of flag desecration and the Patriot Act. Mr. Lewis is clear headed and forceful in his history and arguments. As I see it, this volume is one of the top 10 books on the law that I have ever read. I suggest it as a gift to your sons and daughters, to your high school or college students who care about what America means. Highly recommended. | | Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books The "Right" that we all take for granted! | | Thank you Mr. Lewis for taking the time to write this book. I cannot stop talking to friends, colleagues, and strangers about how it has brought to my attention just how recent our "freedom of speech" really is. Although our founding fathers might have written the text over 200 years ago, men and women were still being jailed under the libel laws and Sedition Acts. Current and future reporters please read this book and use it as a reminder of the importance of your role in our democracy, by keeping our leaders honest with your thorough research and candid accounts. Every American should read this book! | | Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books the Golden Thread: the First Amendment | | As CS Lewis made "righteousness readable", Anthony Lewis makes legal history readable. It may well be that law originates in the mind of God, but the law we live by is made on earth by courts explaining what legislatures mean. Tony Lewis finds a golden thread running through American history: The First Amendment.As he tells us about the cases in which its meaning has been evolving,and about the lives of the legal giants who have expounded it, we get a firmer grip on what makes America distinct. For those who genuinely enjoy history, this is a page turner. | | Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books Excellent overview of freedom of speech | | This book is a clearly written, easy to read and very informative history of freedom of speech in America. It reveals how freedom of speech has matured to what it is today from shockingly shaky beginnings. It's quite timely, given the current need for open debate about the course of the nation when some political leaders and many others think criticism of the President is unpatriotic. It would be great if everyone would read it, including teenagers. | | Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books The fragile First Amendment | Anthony Lewis's new book, "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate" is a terrific compendium regarding the First Amendment...America's unique codification of freedom of speech. Citing a number of Supreme Court cases, Lewis weaves a narrative with respect to two hundred years of debate about this important amendment to the Constitution, how it evolved and its relevance today. Along the way, we are reminded how, at many times during our nation's history, certain aspects of free speech were abridged, only to be saved by the courts, the Congress and public opinion. Anthony Lewis has presented all of this in a succinct and engrossing way.
Although this is a work about our own nation, Lewis does some short comparisons to the British system of "openness" and finds theirs (unsurprisingly) not as free as ours, especially when it comes to cases of libel. A surprise to many reading "Freedom" is how only comparatively recently the First Amendment has been put to the test. Lewis delves into areas of interest including privacy, libel, the press and pornography. But perhaps his greatest chapter is one on fear...how governments have sought to use fear to suppress public demonstration and thought, while insulating themselves from reality. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant", Justice Louis Brandeis stated years ago, and the author is quick to cite the Bush administration for not adhering to this idea. Indeed, I wish Lewis had taken on Bush even more in this book, but perhaps he has another offering in the works.
"Freedom for the Thought That We Hate" is simply terrific. The author's look into certain Supreme Court Justices... Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Felix Frankfurter, (to name just three) is superb. To top it all off, Anthony Lewis is deeply reflective and writes in a well-paced manner. I highly recommend "Freedom" for anyone who is serious about how the First Amendment continues to be a guiding light for the United States. | | Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Basic Books Product Description | 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 Lewis’s telling, 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. Anthony Lewis 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. |
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