First Amendment Freedoms

June 1, 2021

This look at the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment follows the structure of other titles in the series: an overview, problems and solutions, nine focused essays, over 50 profiles of institutions and individuals, data and primary source material, an annotated resources list, a chronology (1649-2018), a glossary, and an index. LeMay (political science emeritus, Cal State Univ., San Bernardino; Immigration Reform) covers religion, speech, press, and assembly and petition. Religion gets by far the most space, despite there having been much recent contentious political foregrounding of free speech issues. LeMay is authoritative, but his writing is sometimes repetitive and not always clear or effectively organized (e.g., the connection between the First and Fourteenth Amendments is mentioned early on in the book, but not explained until later). Explication of U.S. Supreme Court reasoning can be thin, especially for decisions that seem contradictory. However, the text effectively formulates the many questions raised by the amendment and offers a good starting point for research. VERDICT Although readers might wish for more attentive editing and deeper analysis, the excellent scholarly essays and the information consolidated here will be valuable to students of U.S. history and the Constitution.--Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly of St. George's Sch., Newport, RI

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 13, 2021
The convergence of pervasive social media, a piercingly insistent 24/7 news cycle, and the harsh balkanization of American political opinion have all pushed the First Amendment, especially the right to free speech, to the forefront of our national dialogue. The latest in ABC-CLIO's Contemporary World Issues series examines this always-contentious amendment, both historically and in the context of modern American affairs. This is a traditionally designed, well-crafted reference work. It offers primary-source documentation, scholarly analysis, and case law, supplemented with profiles of the organizations and individuals commonly associated with the First Amendment. Among the materials included here, researchers will encounter Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs' infamous 1838 Order of Extermination, which instigated horrendous attacks on Mormon religious freedom through murder, rape, and looting. Covered, too, are First Amendment topics as disparate as teaching creationism, ritual animal sacrifice, polygamy, student speech, incendiary speech, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Freedom Forum Institute, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ted Cruz, Eugene Debs, and the Espionage Act of 1917. This title deserves a prominent place in collections serving secondary and undergraduate students, political activists, politicians, and newsmakers. Its timely publication offers an exhaustive and reasoned examination of this seminal amendment, one that is stridently front and center today.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.