FEPP Archives - Reviews - 2002-03

Media Democracy and the First Amendment
(November 14, 2003) - Why government regulation to break up media conglomerates advances democracy and the First Amendment.

Terrorism and the Constitution
(August 19, 2003) - David Cole and James Dempsey's new book gives sobering background on the "USA Patriot Act" and on America's habit of sacrificing civil liberties in the name of national security.

The Lives Behind The Cases
(August 4, 2003) - Stephanie Elizondo Griest reviews Speaking Our Minds: Conversations With the People Behind Landmark First Amendment Cases.

The Disastrous State of Sex Education
(April 4, 2003) - In Talk About Sex, Janice Irvine concludes that America must rid itself of the "the culture of stigma" before it can have a sane policy of sexuality education.

The Cyber-Liberties of Public School Students
(March 1, 2003) - An article by an ACLU lawyer surveys the First Amendment rights of students who are punished for off-campus posting or hosting of Web sites that offend adminstrators.

Rereading Sex
(December 17, 2002) - If you are interested in the origins of our present-day struggles over sexual information and ideas, Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz’s detailed rendering the 19th century landscape is packed with incidents and insights. Rereading Sex: Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth-Century America.

New Books: A Psychologist Surveys the Wreckage
(June 19, 2002) - University of Toronto Professor Jonathan Freedman's comprehensive examination of "media violence" research is a must-read for anyone interested in whether social-science studies have actually proved anything about the effects of entertainment. Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence.

Censorship Through Civil Lawsuits -- and Threats Against a University Press
(April 23, 2002) - What was all the fuss about Judith Levine's controversial book Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex? Also, a review of Robert O'Neil's The First Amendment and Civil Liability, which describes how lawsuits against movie directors and book publishers are threatening creative freedom.