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Greg Lukianoff
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Freedom from Speech (Encounter Broadside Book 39) Kindle Edition

by Greg Lukianoff (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 96 ratings
This is a surreal time for freedom of speech. While the legal protections of the First Amendment remain strong, the culture is obsessed with punishing individuals for allegedly offensive utterances. And academia – already an institution in which free speech is in decline – has grown still more intolerant, with high-profile “disinvitation” efforts against well-known speakers and demands for professors to provide “trigger warnings” in class.

In this Broadside, Greg Lukianoff argues that the threats to free speech go well beyond political correctness or liberal groupthink. As global populations increasingly expect not just physical comfort but also intellectual comfort, threats to freedom of speech are only going to become more intense. To fight back, we must understand this trend and see how students and average citizens alike are increasingly demanding freedom from speech.
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  1. Part of series
    Encounter Broadsides
  2. Print length
    67 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Encounter Books
  5. Accessibility
    Learn more
  6. Publication date
    September 9, 2014
  7. File size
    2.1 MB
  8. Page Flip
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  9. Word Wise
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  10. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greg Lukianoff is an attorney and president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. His writings on campus free speech have appeared in the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times, and the Washington Post, in addition to dozens of other publications. A regular columnist for the Huffington Post, he is a frequent guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and has made numerous television appearances, including on the CBS Evening News and Stossel. He received the 2008 Playboy Foundation Freedom of Expression Award and the 2010 Ford Hall Forum’s Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award on behalf of FIRE. Lukianoff is a graduate of American University and Stanford Law School.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00MSYUZ42
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Encounter Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 9, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.1 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 67 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594038082
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ Encounter Broadsides
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 96 ratings

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Greg Lukianoff

Greg Lukianoff

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Greg Lukianoff is an attorney and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). He is the author of "Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate" and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe, in addition to dozens of other publications. He is a regular columnist for The Huffington Post and has appeared on television shows, including the "CBS Evening News," "Fox & Friends," "The Today Show," CNN's "New Day," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," and "Stossel." He received the 2008 Playboy Foundation Freedom of Expression Award and the 2010 Ford Hall Forum's Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award on behalf of FIRE. He is a graduate of American University and Stanford Law School.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
96 global ratings

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Customers find the book well-written and worth reading, with one mentioning it can be finished in a single sitting. The content receives positive feedback, with one customer noting how it describes the intellectual underpinnings of free speech.

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12 customers mention "Content"12 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's content, which is to the point and relevant to real life, with one customer noting how it describes the intellectual underpinnings of free speech.

"...in this Encounter Broadside, it reflects “cultural values” and “intellectual habits,” such as &#..." Read more

"...I sympathize with Lukianoff's concerns and I think he treats the issues fairly, without straying into alarmist rhetoric as many other people..." Read more

"...speech as defined by the Constitution and describes the intellectual underpinnings of free speech, as well as why robust free speech is necessary..." Read more

"Overall a concise summary. This is the First Amendment from a journalist's perspective...." Read more

6 customers mention "Value for money"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth reading, with one mentioning it keeps the reader engaged throughout, and another noting its well-argued content.

"...of content in a (relatively) short number of pages, keeping the reader engaged the entire time...." Read more

"...problems than in providing solutions, this is a brief work that is worth reading, particularly for anyone who is involved with higher education." Read more

"...This was an interesting nights read and well worth re-reading...." Read more

"This is a good, direct wake-up call about the erosion of free speech in the U.S., due to Political Correctness...." Read more

3 customers mention "Readability"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written, with one mentioning it can be read in a single sitting.

"...from Speech" is a relatively short booklet and can be read in a single sitting, but it timely and convincingly argues why robust free speech and..." Read more

"This essentially is an expanded op ed piece. It generally is well-written and very well-argued, dealing with a major emerging issue on most college..." Read more

"Very informative, well written book." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • George P. Wood
    5.0 out of 5 stars Why Contemporary America Wants Freedom FROM Speech
    Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Freedom of speech is a bedrock American principle. It is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but it cannot be reduced to that amendment. Instead, as Greg Lukianoff points out in this Encounter Broadside, it reflects “cultural values” and “intellectual habits,” such as

    "giving the other side a fair hearing, reserving judgment, tolerating opinions that offend or anger us, believing that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and recognizing that even people whose points of view we find repugnant might be (at least partially) right. At the heart of these values is epistemic humility—a fancy way of saying that we must always keep in mind that we could be wrong or, at least, that we can always learn something from listening to the other side."

    Lukianoff contends that these values and habits are under assault in America today, and he points to numerous examples to establish the point.

    The assault on freedom of speech cannot be dismissed simply as “academia’s fault,” the result of “liberal groupthink” and “political correctness.” (Academia does play a crucial role, however, as Lukianoff’s Unlearning Liberty details at length. So does the political Left.) Instead, the assault reflects a social trend that can be seen worldwide:

    "people all over the globe are coming to expect emotional and intellectual comfort as though it were a right. This is precisely what you would expect when you train a generation to believe that they have a right not to be offended. Eventually, they stop demanding freedom of speech and start demanding freedom from speech."

    The problem with expecting comfort as a right is that…well, the real world doesn’t work that way. Even assuming that everyone is acting on their best behavior, diversity ensures that there will be disagreement in society about what is true, good, and beautiful. Far from helping resolve those disagreements, social rules and cultural norms that promote “freedom from speech” hinder reasonable resolutions of those conflicts—and even the agreement to disagree. Instead, freedom from speech requires power—university administrators, government regulators, etc.—to impose a version of truth, goodness, and beauty on a diverse society that literally does not have a say about it.

    Far from promoting a tolerant, comfortable society, then, the right to comfort ironically creates victims and transmogrifies conflicts about fundamental principles into zero-sum conflicts about who wields power. In such a situation, reason loses and force wins. That’s not a good situation for democratic societies to find themselves in. Far better to allow Socratic gadflies to ask uncomfortable, even embarrassing, questions and to dialogue the way to reasonable answers. Unfortunately, that’s not the path contemporary American society is taking.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Molly Millions
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy the broadside format, fairly balanced content.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I like this broadside format a lot, even if most of the titles in the series are polemic spewings from critics with whom I don't really agree. Lukianoff makes many valuable arguments in this one, and his arguments benefit from his careful attention to staying on topic and within the scope of his thesis. The length is about as much time as I think the issue is worth, and the book comes together nicely because of it.

    As a librarian at an elite liberal arts institution, I sympathize with Lukianoff's concerns and I think he treats the issues fairly, without straying into alarmist rhetoric as many other people writing on campus speech initiatives (including trigger warnings, etc) are wont to do. He does pull examples from some isolated cases that I doubt are broadly applicable, and plays a bit into the hands of fearmongers and those who want to uncritically characterize young people as overly "soft" for engaging (sometimes fairly, sometimes poorly) with very real issues of race and gender relations on campus. In the end, however, it's a great contribution to the discussion on what seems to be an increasingly troublesome trend in the ivory tower. Recommended.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Eric Mayforth
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Bulwark of Civilization Under Fierce Assault
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Freedom of speech has been in the news quite a bit in recent years and is on the decline not just in the United States but elsewhere in the West as well. As Greg Lukianoff notes in "Freedom from Speech," in our country today increasing numbers of Americans show not just indifference, but in some cases outright disdain toward one of the bulwarks of civilization.

    Lukianoff provides the cultural definition of free speech as opposed to free speech as defined by the Constitution and describes the intellectual underpinnings of free speech, as well as why robust free speech is necessary for science, culture, and societies to continue to advance and to avoid stagnation and decline.

    The author looks at a key trend today that leads many to undervalue freedom of speech. As many value security over liberty in other spheres such as economics, they also tend to do so in other areas as well, and Lukianoff explains why he thinks the threat to free speech will only grow in the coming decades.

    College campuses are the places where one would expect to find the most fervent defenders of free speech, but this is sadly not the case, and Lukianoff details some of the problems facing free speech in the academy.

    "Freedom from Speech" is a relatively short booklet and can be read in a single sitting, but it timely and convincingly argues why robust free speech and open exchange of ideas are not luxuries, but absolute necessities for civilized societies.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • MLRP
    5.0 out of 5 stars Empower your college bound and college student so they know their rights on campus.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    College administrators have turned on its head the old adage “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”. Through speech codes that restrict constitutionally protected speech as well as limit other free expression and rights to due process, Universities seek to shield students from hurled WORDS in the name of emotional safety. The notion that mere words, exhaled on one‘s breath (with no other risk of imminent danger or threat of physical harm), could cause such “pain” that it justifies a restriction on our preeminent rights under the First Amendment is nonsensical. But this is happening today on College campuses —public and private, big and small — throughout the USA. Awareness is paramount. Know your rights. Empower your young adult to Stand up for Free Speech.
    One person found this helpful
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  • David DiMatteo
    3.0 out of 5 stars Overall a concise summary. This is the First Amendment ...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Overall a concise summary. This is the First Amendment from a journalist's perspective. If you are looking for a detailed legal analysis of First Amendment case law or a philosophical exploration of the larger concept of freedom of expression you may be dissapointed.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Dr. Champaign
    4.0 out of 5 stars Hervorragendes Statement eines Top-Juristen
    Reviewed in Germany on May 19, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Zum Inhalt sage ich nichts - das seht in der Beschreibung. Was ich aber sagen kann: das Werk ist sehr gut geschrieben, Lukianoff kann das einfach, und gibt einen guten Einblick ein ein amerikanisches Phänomen. Daher: 5 (FÜNF) Sterne! Einen Stern Abzug dafür, dass dieses Statement ein wenig kurz geraten ist - das Büchlein hat rd. 61 groß gedruckte Seiten.
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  • Doug1943
    5.0 out of 5 stars A book for liberals and conservatives
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A great defense of Free Speech. Sixty years ago it was the Radical Right who threatened Free Speech. Today it's the Radical Left. Conservatives and liberals have here an issue on which they can agree: the importance of the right to say things that other people don't like -- a foundation stone of democracy, and now under threat on American campuses. This book provides ammunition to people who believe in freedom.
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  • Till Noever
    5.0 out of 5 stars Grim but unfortunately true
    Reviewed in Australia on November 9, 2014
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    A summary of the grim state of thought and free speech in the US. In my experience this is mirrored many other western countries. In some it's considerably worse.
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