Nazis in Skokie : Freedom, Community, and the First Amendment

Downs, Donald Alexander

ISBN 10: 0268009686 / ISBN 13: 9780268009687

Published by University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 1985

FIRST PRINTING of the First Edition. A thoughtful and scholarly analysis and discussion of the issues and limitations surrounding the First Amendment to the.American Constitution, i.e. the citizenry's right to their expression of free speech, within a context of the historic 1977 confrontation in Chicago between a Jewish community and a group of neo-Nazis - the National Socialist Party of America led by Frank Collin - who declared their intent to hold a political demonstration in that community Author challenges the doctrine of 'content neutrality' and presents a strong argument for minimal abridgment of speech when considered 'intentionally harmful'. Hardcover with dust jacket, notes, indexed, 227pp., front jacket panel shows a tiny chip. A nice copy, the jacket neatly encased in an acid-free archival protector. Very rare. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 00015856

Synopsis:

In 1977, a Chicago-based Nazi group announced its plans to demonstrate in Skokie, Illinois, the home of hundreds of Holocaust survivors. The shocked survivor community rose in protest and the issue went to court, with the ACLU defending the Nazis’ right to free speech. The court ruled in the Nazis’ favor. According to the “content neutrality doctrine” governing First Amendment jurisprudence, the Nazis’ insults and villifications were “neutral”--not the issue, as far as the law was concerned. But to Downs, they are at issue. In Nazis in Skokie he challenges the doctrine of “content neutrality” and presents an argument for the minimal abridgment of free speech when that speech in intentionally harmful. Draawing on his interviews with participants in the conflict, Downs combines detailed social history with informed legal interpretation in a provocative examination of an abiding tension between individual freedom and community integrity, and between procedural and substantive justice.

About the Author:

Donald Downs is the Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism at UW-Madison, and the Glenn B. and Cleone Orr Hawkins Professor of Political Science at the University. He is also the director and co-founder of the University’s Wisconsin Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy (2007-present). In 2013, Downs received the national Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award for his defense of academic freedom and freedom of thought at UW-Madison and in higher education generally. Downs also won the University's 2014 Hilldale Award in the Social Studies for " A Distinguished Career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Research, Teaching, and Service."

Bibliographic Details

Title: Nazis in Skokie : Freedom, Community, and ...
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame
Publication Date: 1985
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First Edition.
Book Type: Book