Defending My Enemy: Skokie and the Legacy of Free Speech in America

Author:   Aryeh Neier ,  Eleanor Holmes Norton ,  Nadine Strossen
Publisher:   The New Press
ISBN:  

9781620979914


Pages:   208
Publication Date:   06 November 2025
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

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Defending My Enemy: Skokie and the Legacy of Free Speech in America


Overview

With a foreword by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and an afterword by Nadine Strossen A new edition of the most important free speech book of the past half-century, with a new chapter by the author on some of the top First Amendment controversies of today , that still would have made him a hero and a giant.""-Nadine Strossen, former president, American Civil Liberties Union When Nazis wanted to express their right to free speech in 1977 by marching through Skokie, Illinois-a town with a large population of Holocaust survivors-Aryeh Neier, then the national executive director of the ACLU and himself a Holocaust survivor, came to the Nazis' defense. Explaining what many saw as a despicable bridge too far for the First Amendment, Neier spelled out his thoughts about free speech in his 1979 book Defending My Enemy. Nearly fifty years later, Neier revisits the topic of free speech in a volume that includes his original essay along with a new chapter addressing present-day First Amendment battles, including the Charlottesville march, book bans, the heckler's veto, attacks on free speech on college campuses, and the threat to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in The New York Times v. Sullivan. Including a foreword by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and an afterword by longtime free speech champion Nadine Strossen, Defending My Enemy offers razor-sharp analysis from the man Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute describes as ""an icon of justice and fearlessness.""

Full Product Details

Author:   Aryeh Neier ,  Eleanor Holmes Norton ,  Nadine Strossen
Publisher:   The New Press
Imprint:   The New Press
Dimensions:   Width: 13.90cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 21.50cm
ISBN:  

9781620979914


ISBN 10:   1620979918
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   06 November 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for Defending My Enemy: “Aryeh Neier’s Defending My Enemy is as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The book is a powerful reminder of why free speech matters—not just for the voices we agree with, but for the voices we abhor. Neier’s story of defending Nazis’ rights to speak in Skokie underscores a timeless truth: If we want to preserve freedom for our selves, we must be willing to defend it for others, no matter how deeply we disagree. At a time when censorship is on the rise globally, Defending My Enemy stands as a bold and principled call to action. Every advocate of free expression needs to read this book—and more importantly, live its lessons.” —Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)


Author Information

Aryeh Neier, he lives in New York City.

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Latest Reading Guide

NOV RG 20252

 

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