What Is Free Speech?
Fara Dabhoiwala · Harvard University Press eBooks · 2025
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.