Book Review: Freedom of Speech: Reflections in Art and Popular Culture

Abstract

For a country that prides itself on the freedoms it bestows on its citizens, the United States has a surprisingly extensive history of censorship. As Patricia L. Dooley’s Freedom of Speech: Reflections in Art and Popular Culture demonstrates, the arts and pop culture have long been favored targets of censors. Sometimes the censors are private citizens or organizations acting as self-appointed guardians of morality. More ominously, they sometimes are government entities intent on controlling the dissemination and consumption of creative products.