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Perilous Times
Free Speech In Wartime From The Sedition Act Of 1798 To The War On Terrorism
by Geoffrey R. Stone


8.3

based on 14 reviews
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based on 3 votes
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Constitutional scholar and law professor Geoffrey R. Stone analyzes six different periods throughout American history (as well as a brief look at the current administration) where wars have led to the repression of free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

W. W. Norton & Company, 730 pages
10/25/2004
$35.00

ISBN: 0393058808

Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics
History

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Publishers Weekly

Comprehensive and consistently readable, this enlightening book arrives at a time when national political debate should be at a fever pitch.

Christian Science Monitor Steve Weinberg

When the characters in this avalanche of history become actors in an interestingly told drama, their individual stories are deeply memorable.

Los Angeles Times Herbert Mitgang

So rich in material is Perilous Times, a chronicle of the tribulations of the 1st Amendment in wartime, that this scholarly yet highly readable book amounts to an anecdotal history of the United States itself, from the Founding Fathers to the present. [24 Oct 2004, p.R3]

The New York Times Book Review Christopher Hitchens

One closes this admirable book more than ever determined that the authors of the Constitution were right the first time, and that the only amendment necessary might be a prohibition on the passage of any law within six months of any atrocity, foreign or domestic.

USA Today Tony Mauro

A powerful history... This very readable, illustrated book will make you think differently about icons such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

Washington Post Christopher Capozzola

A masterful history of free speech in wartime America... We have long needed this book, though perhaps never as badly as we do today.

The New Republic Stephen Holmes

By chronicling the most serious historical deviations from our ordinary constitutional order, therefore, Geoffrey Stone's outstanding book alarms as much as it clarifies.

New York Review Of Books Edmund S. Morgan, Marie Morgan

Engrossing... This is a book whose discerning legal and constitutional analysis, clear prose, and humane outlook deserve the highest praise.

Chicago Tribune Eric Arnesen

Although Stone only touches the surface of the war on terrorism, his informed and nuanced exploration of historical restrictions on wartime dissent and free speech are sobering and relevant to our current situation.

Wall Street Journal Jonathan Karl

Mr. Stone is a constitutional scholar and a zealous defender of free speech, but he is also a great storyteller.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

While the reader may wish that Mr. Stone had spent more space in this volume analyzing the Patriot Act and post-9/11 attitudes toward civil liberties -- he devotes a mere eight pages to the subject near the end of the book -- this quibble should not detract from the overall achievement of this volume.

Booklist Vernon Ford

An engaging mixture of history and law. [1 Nov 2004, p.449]

Kirkus Reviews

Most timely, and of wide interest to civil libertarians and students of legal history.

Boston Globe Alan M. Dershowitz

Valuable as it surely is, its basic thesis is highly questionable... By not telling us much about state efforts to punish individuals for exercising their freedom of speech in peacetime, Stone exaggerates the role of war in the history of American censorship.

The average user rating for this book is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John R gave it a10:
Outstanding book on the history of civil liberties in wartime. Stones goes to great links to address how civil liberities have been interpreted by the courts by involving the reader in the background and opinions offered by the courts. I was fearful at the beginning of my read that legalistic terms would hamper the flow of the text, however Stone writes in a manner where the common lay-person can read the book with enjoyment ...a great read along side Chief Justice Rehnquist's All the Laws But One.

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Perilous Times Free Speech In Wartime From The Sedition Act Of 1798 To The War On Terrorism by Geoffrey R. Stone

Perilous Times
Free Speech In Wartime From The Sedition Act Of 1798 To The War On Terrorism
by Geoffrey R. Stone