Reviewed in Shelf Awareness for Readers:

In The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America, journalist Ellis Cose (The Rage of the Privileged Class) provides a comprehensive history of the United States Constitution's First Amendment and the many ways that the ideal of free speech has evolved over the course of the country's relatively short history. It feels too limiting to describe this as a book solely about the topic of free speech, however--perhaps fitting given that the concept of free speech has touched so many aspects of American political, social and cultural history.

"The issue of speech--particularly in a society polluted by racism and largely defined by economic inequality--is endlessly complex," Cose explains in the introduction to his work. He then proceeds to untangle that complex history in a way that is accessible to a layperson without a law degree. In doing so, Cose provides readers with tools to understand better the concept of free speech in the United States--including the fact that, despite being enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, it was rarely enforced until the 20th century--and how various limits to free speech have played out in well-known (and some less well-known) court cases. The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America uses this historical analysis to urge readers to consider important questions about what constitutes free speech, and what lengths we are willing to go to as a nation to protect that speech, even as the United States--and the world--sees rises in hate speech (and corresponding acts of violence). --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

Discover: A history of the ideal of free speech in the United States encourages readers to question how the First Amendment has affected nearly every aspect of 21st-century America.

To be completely honest, this was not a very enjoyable reading experience. The author seems to know what he is talking about, and I agree with many of his observations, but the writing style itself is at best, difficult to follow.

Non-fiction books can be quite enjoyable when written in a conversational style, but this book just seemed at times as though it were an oral conversation gone awry. It reminded me, in some places, of stream of consciousness writing, and I expected to see Virginia Woolf show up peering over my shoulder and nodding approvingly.

The author does not hide his disdain for the current administration, and although I must agree with that position, I still thought a bit of editing could have improved the reader's experience of this book. It wasn't a terrible book, but it took me longer to read it than it should have.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. The link to the review is below.

“The First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech is rooted in the belief that in a competition of ideas, good ideas generally crowd out bad ideas. It assumes that people are basically rational and skilled in recognizing the better argument when they hear it.”

The 200 page book talks about big money in politics, facebook algorithmic biases, the sheer amount of information we are bombarded with on a daily basis, the electoral college and it’s relation to slavery, and Trump’s handling of basically his entire presidency and specifically the pandemic. When I say that I wanted to highlight the ENTIRE book, I’m not kidding. Ellis Cose puts together a fantastic explanation of the current political environment in the US while referencing countless historical events, court cases, and political figures. This book is packed with information and will quickly open your eyes to just how much democracy is being undermined. In conclusion, I want to move to Canada.