The First Amendment, Democracy, and Romance

by Steven H. Shiffrin

"A lucid and original contribution to the literature of free speech." -Laurence Tribe, Harvard University "[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] provides the kind of linkage between law and the humanities often called for but seldom achieved." -Daniel Aaron, Harvard University "This book offers a perspective on the First Amendment that is both original and important.... Shiffrin is dazzling in the range of his reading and the clarity and pertinence of his documentation." -Vincent Blasi, Columbia University "Shiffrin compellingly presents a particular notion of the First Amendment, rooted in the protection of the dissenter, that has important implications for a variety of contemporary debates.... He vigorously defends a highly contextual [ized].... model of constitutional decision making that has implications far beyond the First Amendment." -Sanford Levinson, University of Texas at Austin Steven H. Shiffrin is Professor of Law at Cornell University.

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful and well-argued. A good commentary to Ely’s and Meiklejohn’s theories of democracy and the first amendment.