Review by Choice Review
Graber (University of Texas) has written what will surely be an often-cited landmark work in the area of freedom of speech in the US. He successfully refutes the notion that free speech in the US follows a monolithic tradition. Instead, he argues that from the Civil War to WW I, the conservative libertarian tradition dominated. This tradition was based on a linkage of free speech to the system of private property and, more generally, that free speech was simply one element of personal liberty. After WW I this tradition gave way, owing in large part to the influence of Zechariah Chafee, to the civil libertarian tradition, which held that free speech could be protected despite inequalities of wealth and resources that restricted access to the marketplace of ideas. This latter-day 20th-century theory posited that judges should not interfere with policy outputs but should resign themselves to protecting only democratic processes--a theory finding its apex in the famous Footnote 4 of the Carolene Products case (1938). Graber argues that it is time for a new theory of free speech, which recognizes that "economic and social policies have significant impacts on democratic processes" and that resource inequalities threaten free speech. Although his theory of political libertarianism is still preliminary, this work is significant and is highly recommended for all academic libraries. Extensive endnotes, bibliography, and index add luster to this important book. -M. W. Bowers, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
