Today Jacob Mchangama’s new book Free Speech – A History from Socrates to Social Media is published
The book is published by the American Basic Books publisher and can be purchased as a physical book, e-book and audiobook.
If you want to follow reviews, interviews, articles, events and podcasts in connection with the release, keep an eye on www.jacobmchangama.com
“The best history of free speech ever written and the best defense of free speech ever made.” —P.J. O’Rourke
Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy. But it is a challenging principle, subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat.
In Free Speech, Jacob Mchangama traces the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of this idea. Through captivating stories of free speech’s many defenders—from the ancient Athenian orator Demosthenes and the ninth-century freethinker al-Rāzī, to the anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and modern-day digital activists—Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech, too, is a constant, and he explores how even its champions can be led down this path when the rise of new and contrarian voices challenge power and privilege of all stripes.
Meticulously researched and deeply humane, Free Speech demonstrates how much we have gained from this principle—and how much we stand to lose without it.