The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor's Dilemma
Cambridge University Press, 11/4/2021
EAN 9781107570375, ISBN10: 1107570379
Paperback, 384 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Beginning in the nineteenth century with Anthony Comstock, America's 'censor in chief,' The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder explores how censors operate and why they wore out their welcome in society at large. This book explains how the same tactics were tried and eventually failed in the twentieth century, with efforts to censor music, comic books, television, and other forms of popular entertainment. The historic examples illustrate not just the mindset and tactics of censors, but why they are the ultimate counterculture warriors and why, in free societies, censors never occupy the moral high ground. This book is for anyone who wants to know more about why freedom of speech is important and how protections for free expression became part of the American identity.
1. The censor's dilemma
2. Anthony Comstock
professional anti-vice crusader
3. Comstock's legacy
a dilemma is born
4. The Comstock playbook
5. Seduction of the innocent
the comic book menace
6. Ya got trouble
censorship and popular music
7. The vast wasteland
8. New age Comstockery
the indecency wars
9. The anti-free speech movement
10. Freedom of speech and the spirit of liberty.