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  • Free Speech and Why It Matters

  • Why It Matters
  • Written by: Andrew Doyle
  • Narrated by: Andrew Doyle
  • Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (26 ratings)

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Free Speech and Why It Matters

Written by: Andrew Doyle
Narrated by: Andrew Doyle
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Publisher's Summary

Free speech is the bedrock of all our liberties, and yet in recent years, it has come to be mistrusted. A new form of social justice activism, which perceives language as potentially violent, has prompted a national debate on where the limitations of acceptable speech should be drawn. Governments throughout Europe have enacted 'hate speech' legislation to curb the dissemination of objectionable ideas, Silicon Valley tech giants are collaborating to ensure that they control the limitations of public discourse, and campaigners in the US are calling for revisions to the First Amendment.

However well-intentioned, these trends represent a threat to the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died to secure. In this incisive and fascinating book, Andrew Doyle addresses head-on the most common concerns of free speech sceptics, and offers a timely and robust defence of this most foundational of principles.

©2021 Andrew Doyle (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK
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What the critics say

"A fantastically timely book written by one of the smartest thinkers in Britain." (Piers Morgan)

"Impassioned, scholarly and succinct." (The Times)

What listeners say about Free Speech and Why It Matters

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I would recommend this along with The New Puritans

People need to understand the importance of free speech and fighting to keep it.
Restricting speech restricts thought and allows authorities to control populations.

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Good addition to the free speech defense.

Must read for anyone struggling to convince their ideologically captured acquaintances and/or institutions about why free speech is the highest value.

Very good appending essay to Rauch's Kindly Inquisitors. Also a must read for anyone looking for more stalwart defenses of free speech.

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Eye opening, non partisan, concise!!!

Very well narrated! loved the cohesiveness of the chapters. A very concise and well articulated defination of what free speech is. Offers the reader a glimpse into a world without freedom of expression and what would result as a consequence of this removal.

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liquid prose, needed at this time

Andrew makes a balanced claim about the state of our freedoms and why we need to push back against authoritarianism. Beautifully narrated by Andrew himself.

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Thought provoking and insightful

well supported arguments and cogent hypotheses
counter arguments on some points would be interesting to hear
generally a must read for all who want to have a position on freedom

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Read it!

Intelligent, balanced, theoretical, yet pragmatic. A brilliant analysis of the importance of protecting free speech. I cannot recommend this book enough!

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the basics of the free speech argument

This is a very well done, brief introduction to the basics of the concept of free speech and why it applies to the insanity of the present cancel culture moment.

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should be mandated in schools

more and more educators, and students of all ages need to be reading this book

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