The best history of free speech ever written and the best defense of free speech ever made.P. J. ORourke

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, we are experiencing a free speech recession.

In Free Speech, Jacob Mchangama traces the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of this idea. Through captivating stories of free speechs many defendersfrom the ancient Athenian orator Demosthenes and the ninth-century freethinker al-Rz, to the anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and modern-day digital activistsMchangama 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.

Updated with a new epilogue addressing topics ranging from AI to campus protests, Free Speech demonstrates how much we have gained from this principleand how much we stand to lose without it.