PERILOUS TIMES: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism

As readers would hope from a book about free speech, this one is filled with glorious insults—the first man charged under the Sedition Act accused John Adams's administration of "unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp... and selfish avarice"—and lucid accounts of the speech that the U.S. government has tried to quiet throughout our history. A law professor at the University of Chicago, Stone delivers rich material in an engaging, character-based narrative. Stone offers deep insight into rhetorical history and the men and women who made it—resisters like Clement Vallandingham, Emma Goldman, Fred Korematsu and Daniel Ellsberg; presidents faced with wartime dilemmas; and the prosecutors, defenders and Supreme Court justices who shaped our understanding of the First Amendment today. His treatment of the war on terror is brief, and his assessment of the Bush administration is judicious but harsh for what he casts as its obsession with secrecy and its effective dismantling of the 1976 Levi guidelines restricting the FBI's ability to investigate political and religious activities. Stone places heavy responsibility on—and gives ample credit to—the American public for upholding free speech even when our leaders tend toward measures that weaken liberty in the name of strengthening it. Comprehensive and consistently readable, this enlightening book arrives at a time when national political debate should be at a fever pitch. 63 illus. Agent, Lynn Chu. (Oct. 25)