Fighting Words Individuals, Communities, and Liberties of Speech [Paperback]

Should hate speech be made a criminal offense, or does the First Amendment oblige Americans to permit the use of epithets directed against a person's race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual preference? Does a campus speech code enhance or degrade democratic values? When the American flag is burned in protest, what rights of free speech are involved? In a lucid and balanced analysis of contemporary court cases dealing with these problems, as well as those of obscenity and workplace harassment, acclaimed First Amendment scholar Kent Greenawalt now addresses a broad general audience of readers interested in the most current free speech issues.

Kent Greenawaltis University Professor at Columbia University and a member of the faculty of the School of Law. He is the author of numerous works includingSpeech, Crime, and the Uses of LanguageandReligious Convictions and Political Choice. Greenawalt's ... even-handed treatment of the relevant opinions and his reasoned support for a powerful free speech principle is a welcome change from the hectoring tone that often creeps into First Amendment debates....Fighting Wordsis a wonderful book. With its publication, the era of serious comparative constitutional jurisprudence has begun. ---Burt Neuborne,New York Law Journal Everyone interested in contemporary debates about law, free speech, or democratic society should read ...Fighting Words....[It] is an important book because it breaks a popular American conception that the First Amendment is an absolute.... Greenawalt opens the reader's mind to various legal alternatives regarding free expression. ---Archon Fung,The Boston Book Review [A] thought-provoking, well-reasoned, and well-balanced analysis of the similarities and contrasts on issues of free speech between the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada's construction of the Charter of Rights and Frlc›