When Freedom Speaks

The Boundaries and the Boundlessness of Our First Amendment Right

Lynn Greenky

When Freedom Speaks: The Boundaries and the Boundlessness of our First Amendment Right chronicles the stories that narrate our First Amendment right to speak our minds. Greenky’s background gives her a unique perspective upon which to teach and write about the protection we have from laws that abridge our right to the freedom of speech. Rhetoricians focus on language and how it influences perception and moves people to action, this book values a rhetorical approach to teach the concepts as moral narratives that proscribe the boundaries of our constitutionally protected right. Using the characters and drama embedded in the cases that elucidate First Amendment principles, When Freedom Speaks makes the concepts easier to understand and applicable to our lives.

The aim of this book is to engage today’s increasingly politically active audience and introduce them to the theories, the landmark Supreme Court cases, and recent lower court cases that guide First Amendment jurisprudence.

Series:

Brandeis Series in Law and Society

Paper: $27.95 | Cloth: $80 | E-book: $24.95

ISBN-13: 9781684580934

Pages: 248 | Size: 6 in. x 9 in.

Date Published: March 15, 2022

Imprint:

Brandeis University Press

Law and Legal Studies

Lynn Greenky offers a spirited and engaging examination of the individuals, groups, and movements that have advanced free speech protections by standing up and speaking out. When Freedom Speaks is an accessible guide to the past, present, and future of free speech in the United States.

David Cole
National Legal Director, ACLU

Book Trailer

Reviews

Greenky’s easy-to-read primer offers general readers and students a telling history and framework for understanding the basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodologies courts commonly use to negotiate clashing and competing constitutional values and individual rights to free speech.

Library Journal
Lynn Greenky offers a spirited and engaging examination of the individuals, groups, and movements that have advanced free speech protections by standing up and speaking out. When Freedom Speaks is an accessible guide to the past, present, and future of free speech in the United States.

David Cole
National Legal Director, ACLU
When Freedom Speaks serves as a reminder that the First Amendment is a living, breathing structure that continues to both challenge and reinforce our country’s definition of free speech. Lynn Greenky takes us on a thorough journey through all the trials and tribulations it has faced. Anyone with any opinion will benefit from reading this timely road map on the cornerstone of our Constitution.

Lauren Tousignant
New York Post
Lynn Greenky’s new book is a tour de force on the importance of free speech to all individuals and groups in America – right, left, center and anyone who doesn’t conform to the prevailing wisdom of the day. …Greenky reminds us that free speech means tolerating one another – instead of silencing or jailing one another. And that’s worth fighting for.

Jonathan Collegio
Former Communications Director, American Crossroads
When Freedom Speaks by Lynn Greenky is an excellent introduction and exploration of the contentious field of First Amendment jurisprudence. Both entertaining and educational, it provides the knowledge necessary for an informed electorate. Like a good legal conundrum, it offers opportunities to ask important questions and spark lively arguments.

New York Journal of Books
A superb, concise, yet comprehensive volume that equips undergraduate students with the intellectual toolkit necessary to understand the key legal components that make up the US's First Amendment free-speech case law. Greenky masterfully leads readers through the material in an engaging, informative manner, using just enough discussion of complex legal doctrine… to educate without intimidating. A highly informative book perfect for students needing an entry point into the First Amendment's free-speech clause and history.

Choice
Greenky joins a legion of legal experts in the ever-important task of promoting the First Amendment as an essential and, thus, respectable feature of US democracy.

Communication and Democracy

About the Author

Lynn Levine Greenky

Lynn Greenky began her professional career as a lawyer. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Emory University School of Law and is admitted to the bar in New York State. Prior to that she received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. For the past fifteen years, she has served as a teaching professor at Syracuse University in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. Ten years ago, she began teaching an undergraduate …

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