What Is Free Speech?

A brilliant history [of what] has long been a “weaponized mantra” in a public sphere dominated by the moneyed and the powerful, this fascinating book questions whether such a misunderstood ideal should be lauded as an end in itself ... Dabhoiwala wants us to think of free speech in terms of which voices are heard most loudly and which are marginalised ... meticulous and much-needed

A brilliant history [of what] has long been a “weaponized mantra” in a public sphere dominated by the moneyed and the powerful, this fascinating book questions whether such a misunderstood ideal should be lauded as an end in itself ... Dabhoiwala wants us to think of free speech in terms of which voices are heard most loudly and which are marginalised ... meticulous and much-needed

A rich and wide-ranging history which reminds us that disagreement over what may be printed or said in public has long been ferocious ... Dabhoiwala here corrects misconceptions, confirms how most arguments over speech are arguments at the same time about something else [and] reminds us that who defines it, who enjoys it and who regulates it is politics all the way down

There could be no better guide than Fara Dabhoiwala ... What Is Free Speech? makes you think afresh about the subject [and shows how] the history of free speech is its incurably accidental nature

Tracing a global history of speaking freely is no small task. Dabhoiwala tracks the vicissitudes of the idea with gusto, through religious prohibitions, monarchical edicts, colonial suppression of slave speech, and the perennial existence of misinformation ... an ambitious feat

Thought-provoking ... Fara Dabhoiwala trace[s] the history of freedom of expression as an intellectual concept and a political programme [and] set[s] out his views on its limitations and contradictions

Fara Dabhoiwala was born in England, grew up in Amsterdam, and was educated at York and Oxford. His last book, The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution was an Economist and Sunday Times book of the year and has been translated into several languages. After many years teaching at Oxford, he is now a Senior Research Scholar in history at Princeton University.