Ian Rosenberg

I'll give thumbs up to most anything that preaches to the importance of the freedom of speech, and this book touches on a lot of exciting topics in that regard. But at the same time, be aware that this graphic adaptation of the author's The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms is a text-heavy slog. Soooo many lawyers and judges are crammed into the pages as cursorily drawn talking heads spouting leaden balloons of legalese from cases going back decades, a century even, that still hold sway over what free speech means today.

The art doesn't do much to make the material dynamic. Many of the images, especially the ones obviously referenced from Google searches, are just copied and pasted from page to page, so we often get to see the exact same talking head two or three times. The panels that aren't portraits look like they could be drawn from a stock image database or a high school kid's first PowerPoint presentation.

Still, important topic and lots of good information.… (mehr)

Mostly Solid Explanation of What 'Free Speech' Means As Decreed By SCOTUS... And What It Does Not. This is a legal treatise that never once explicitly states the very thing it seeks to define - the particular text of the First Amendment to the US Constitution that reads "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.". It also refers to a famous yet apocryphal "Ben Franklin" quote in its introduction. And yet despite these two flaws, it is still a mostly solid look at what the Supreme Court of the United States of America has decreed "the right to free speech" means over the last nearly 250 years, mostly within the last century or so. The book does a solid job of using an example usually from this Millenium (or even decade) as its starting point for each chapter's discussion, then going into the history and actual SCOTUS decisions, what they said, and what they mean. Including showing the *rest* of the famous ruling that "you can't yell fire in a crowded theater". Well, you can. If there is a fire. ;) And if you're interested in the concept of Free Speech in the US for any reason at all, this is a book you'll want to read. Very much recommended.… (mehr)