Description: Fara Dabhoiwala argues that free speech, though a central democratic value, owes its origin and evolution less to high-minded ideals than to venal interests. Shaped by greed, technological change, and the insoluble challenges of slander and falsehood, free speech is inherently contradictory--both a basis of liberty and a weapon of the powerful.
Brief description: Fara Dabhoiwala is Senior Research Scholar at Princeton University and the author of The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution. Formerly on faculty at the University of Oxford, he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, All Souls College, and Exeter College.
Review Quotes: An excellent book for anyone who enjoys an in-depth yet wide-ranging and well-rounded intellectual history.--Autumn West "Library Journal" (6/28/2025 12:00:00 AM)