Freedom of Expression

Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson, ed. by Leonard W. Levy (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966). A compendium of the classic American statements on freedom of the press, including texts by Hamilton, Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Wilson, Adams, and others.

Freedom of the Press from Hamilton to the Warren Court, ed. by Harold I. Nelson (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967). Follows on the Levy book and includes documents on censorship during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (covering the conflicts over slavery, war, obscenity, birth control, and other pretexts for suppression of free speech).

The Emergence of a Free Press, by Leonard W. Levy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). An excellent history of the struggle in America for a free press; the account of the adoption of the First Amendment provides a valuable understanding of the struggle for a Bill of Rights.

Advertising and the Market Process, by Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., and David S. Saurman (San Francisco: Pacific Institute, 1988). An important freedom of speech issue is the status of commercial speech. Two thoughtful economists defend advertising against the claims of its critics.

American Broadcasting and the First Amendment, by Lucas A. Powe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987). Shows how state control of expression through licensing of the press -- a practice that prompted the movement for a free press -- has been reinstituted in the electronic media; a strong case for freedom of expression through a free market and private property rights.

Telecommunications in Crisis: The First Amendment, Technology, and Deregulation, by Edwin Diamond and Norman Sandler, and Milton Mueller (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 1983). Calls for an end to state control of the electronic media and deregulation through allowing freely transferable property rights in broadcasting.

Freedom of the Press in England, 1476-1776: The Rise and Decline of Government Control, by Frederick Seaton Siebert (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1952). Shows how the English state used economic controls to assert control over expression and to stifle religious and political dissent.

Kindly Inquisitors, by Jonathan Rauch (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993). Rauch shows how important freedom of inquiry is to the discovery process, in science, politics, art, culture, and other areas; this book provides useful responses to the "politically correct" movement without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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