This book examines the consequences of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. While Americans benefit from its broad protection of freedom of speech, they also suffer from the extremes which result from interpretation of the same amendment. Bollinger provides a masterly critique of the major theories of freedom of expression, finding them persuasive but inadequate. Buttressing his argument with references to many specific cases, as well as with careful analysis of the primary literature on free speech, he contends that the real value of toleration of extremist speech lies in the extraordinary self-control toward antisocial behaviour that it elicits: society is strenthened by the exercise of tolerance.

This book is a breathtaking achievement. It brings together the insights and learning of a lifetime of study of the subject by a meticulous and rigorous scholar. Professor Barendt has marshalled an immense amount of detail and deployed it in a way that clears rather than obscures the path through a field fraught with conceptual, legal and political controversies. This book is an object-lesson in comparative human rights law, stimulating the reader to relfect on the use of comparative method, philosophy and public law. It has already become my trusted guide on free-speech issues. I recommend it enthusiastically to scholars, practioneers and students, all of whom will learn a great deal from it and find much to enjoy in it.