{"product_id":"freedom-of-speech-mightier-than-the-sword-9780307947611","title":"Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword","description":"\u003cb\u003eA provocative, timely assessment of the state of free speech in America\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith his best seller \u003ci\u003eThe Working Poor, \u003c\/i\u003ePulitzer Prize winner and former \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eveteran David K. Shipler cemented his place among our most trenchant social commentators. Now he turns his incisive reporting to a critical American ideal: freedom of speech. Anchored in personal stories--sometimes shocking, sometimes absurd, sometimes dishearteningly familiar--Shipler's investigations of the cultural limits on both expression and the willingness to listen build to expose troubling instabilities in the very foundations of our democracy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFocusing on recent free speech controversies across the nation, Shipler maps a rapidly shifting topography of political and cultural norms: parents in Michigan rallying to teachers vilified for their reading lists; conservative ministers risking their churches' tax-exempt status to preach politics from the pulpit; national security reporters using techniques more common in dictatorships to avoid leak prosecution; a Washington, D.C., Jewish theater's struggle for creative control in the face of protests targeting productions critical of Israel; history teachers in Texas quietly bypassing a reactionary curriculum to give students access to unapproved perspectives; the mixed blessings of the Internet as a forum for dialogue about race. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese and other stories coalesce to reveal the systemic patterns of both suppression and opportunity that are making today a transitional moment for the future of one of our founding principles. Measured yet sweeping, \u003ci\u003eFreedom of Speech\u003c\/i\u003e brilliantly reveals the triumphs and challenges of defining and protecting the boundaries of free expression in modern America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDAVID K. SHIPLER\u003c\/b\u003e reported for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e from 1966 to 1988 in New York, Saigon, Moscow, Jerusalem, and Washington, D.C. He is the author of six previous books, including the best sellers \u003ci\u003eRussia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Working Poor, \u003c\/i\u003e as well as \u003ci\u003eArab and Jew, \u003c\/i\u003e which won the Pulitzer Prize. He has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and has taught at Princeton, American University, and Dartmouth. He writes online at \u003ci\u003eThe Shipler Report\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51779401842962,"sku":"9780307947611","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b470b07c-cc37-4939-8137-234977146848.jpg?v=1765368956","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/freedom-of-speech-mightier-than-the-sword-9780307947611","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}