The First Amendment, Democracy, and Romance

Shiffrin, Steven H.

ISBN 10: 0674302753 / ISBN 13: 9780674302754

Published by Harvard University Press, 1990

About this Item

Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.

Seller Inventory # GRP104845699

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The First Amendment, Democracy, and Romance
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674302753
• ISBN 13: 9780674302754
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

If an organizing symbol makes sense in First Amendment jurisprudence, it is not the image of a content-neutral government, argues Steven Shiffrin, nor is it a town-hall meeting or even a robust marketplace of ideas. If the First Amendment is to have an organizing symbol, let it be an Emersonian symbol: let it be the image of the dissenter.If an organizing symbol makes sense in First Amendment jurisprudence, it is not the image of a content-neutral government, argues Steven Shiffrin, nor is it a town-hall meeting or even a robust marketplace of ideas. If the First Amendment is to have an organizing symbol, let it be an Emersonian symbol: let it be the image of the dissenter.

Review

"[Surprises] are in store for readers of [this book]. The biggest one is that [Shiffrin's] First Amendment exemplars aren't such history-making United States Supreme Court justices as Oliver Wendell Holmes and William J. Brennan but Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson."--Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times

"[Shiffrin] masterfully makes the best case for an enduring constitutional and cultural love affair with the First Amendment."--Ronald Collins, ABA Journal