Overview

Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s name does not appear in any First Amendment treatise or casebook. And yet when the best-selling poet and proprietor of City Lights Books was indicted under California law for publishing and selling Allen Ginsberg’s poem, Howl, Ferglinghetti buttressed the tradition of dissident expression and ended an era when minds were still closed, candid literature still taboo, and when selling banned books was considered a crime. The People v. Ferlinghetti is the story of a rebellious poet, a revolutionary poem, an intrepid book publisher, and a bookseller unintimidated by federal or local officials. There is much color in that story: the bizarre twists of the trial, the swagger of the lead lawyer, the savvy of the young ACLU lawyer, and the surprise verdict of the Sunday school teacher who presided as judge. With a novelist’s flair, noted free speech authorities, Ronald K. L. Collins and David Skover tell the true story of an American maverick who refused to play it safe and who in the process gave staying power to freedom of the press in America. The People v. Ferlinghetti will be of interest to anyone interested the history of free speech in America and the history of the Beat poets.

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9781538125892

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This is the Howl story as it has never been told - riveting and reliable. It is the remarkable story of a courageous publisher and bookseller who tested the law to give voice to a poem howling to be born. With artful skill and scholarly research, the authors highlight Lawrence Ferlinghetti's rightful place in history, not only as a great American poet but also as a fearless defender of liberty. -- Matt Theado, author of Understanding Jack Kerouac and The Beats: A Literary Reference Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a too little recognized one-hundred year old First Amendment hero, a poet, painter, bookseller and book publisher whose devotion to freedom of expression has been boundless. In this splendid book about Ferlinghetti, Collins and Skover combine a mastery of narrative with profound insight in a manner that inspires us all to recommit ourselves to the uniquely American experiment in free-speech freedom. -- Floyd Abrams, senior counsel, Cahill Gordon & Reindel When it comes to First Amendment scholarship and storytelling, Collins and Skover are in a league of their own. With verve and vision, their engaging free speech narratives capture what has often been overlooked. That their latest work should focus on Lawrence Ferlinghetti (that rebel poet and publisher) is no surprise. His story lends itself perfectly to the kind of First Amendment history that sorely needs to be retold with historical accuracy, jurisprudential insight, and literary elan - the very kind of undertaking Collins and Skover have perfected. -- Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law A riveting and rollicking account of a mad effort to prosecute a poem - and its publisher and Bookseller. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's bold defense of freedom of the press is a remarkable story, told here in the poetic spirit of its protagonists. -- David Cole, National Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union

This is the Howl story as it has never been told - riveting and reliable. It is the remarkable story of a courageous publisher and bookseller who tested the law to give voice to a poem howling to be born. With artful skill and scholarly research, the authors highlight Lawrence Ferlinghetti's rightful place in history, not only as a great American poet but also as a fearless defender of liberty. -- Matt Theado, author of Understanding Jack Kerouac and The Beats: A Literary Reference Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a too little recognized ninety-nine year old First Amendment hero, a poet, painter, bookseller and book publisher whose devotion to freedom of expression has been boundless. In this splendid book proposal about Ferlinghetti, Collins and Skover combine a mastery of narrative with profound insight in a manner that inspires us all to recommit ourselves to the uniquely American experiment in free-speech freedom. -- Floyd Abrams, senior counsel, Cahill Gordon & Reindel When it comes to First Amendment scholarship and storytelling, Collins and Skover are in a league of their own. With verve and vision, their engaging free speech narratives capture what has often been overlooked. That their latest work should focus on Lawrence Ferlinghetti (that rebel poet and publisher) is no surprise. His story lends itself perfectly to the kind of First Amendment history that sorely needs to be retold with historical accuracy, jurisprudential insight, and literary elan - the very kind of undertaking Collins and Skover have perfected. -- Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law A riveting and rollicking account of a mad effort to prosecute a poem - and its publisher and Bookseller. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's bold defense of freedom of the press is a remarkable story, told here in the poetic spirit of its protagonists. -- David Cole, National Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union

Author Information

Ronald K.L. Collins is Harold S. Shefelman Scholar, University of Washington School of Law. David M. Skover is Fredric C. Tausend Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law. Together they have coauthored several books including The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon (Sourcebooks, 2002) and On Dissent: Its Meaning in America (Cambridge, 2013)

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