The First Amendment Book

by Robert J. Wagman, Burl Osborne (Foreword), Bruce W. Sanford (Afterword)

Explains the origin and history of the First Amendment, discussing its guarantee of freedom of the press, tracing its evolution, and containing firsthand accounts of press freedom challenges by top newspaper editors

Genres: Politics, History, Law

265 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1991

Reviews

[Stephen Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is misleading. It is really about freedom of the press. It says that in the fine print of the cover, but I didn't notice until I was halfway through and we hadn't gotten to any other civil liberties. As a book on freedom of the press, it is very good up to a point. It explains the development of press freedom over the course of the republic and it digs into specific issues, like prior restraint and libel. It give the best explanation of the rationale for regulating radio and TV more than newspapers that I have read so far.

But then we get to the other problem. It was written for the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment, so it is thirty years old. As such, it is a great history book, but offers nothing on dealing with the information age.

It does get to the other 1st Amendment freedoms eventually, working speech in with the press, spending a rushed chapter on religion and then cramming petition, assembly and association all together. That was frustrating because the part on association was very interesting, but also quite brief.

So overall, this is well-written and informative for freedom of the press up to 1990, but is unsatisfying because so much has changed since then.