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

(Paperback)

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A new edition of the most important free speech book of the past half-century, with a new essay by the author on the ensuing fifty years of First Amendment controversies

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 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 1977 book Defending My Enemy.

Now, nearly fifty years later, Neier revisits the topic of free speech in a volume that includes his original essay along with an extended new piece addressing some of the most controversial free speech issues of the past half-century. Touching on hot-button First Amendment topics currently in play, the second half of the book includes First Amendment analysis of the "Unite the Right" march in Charlotteville, campus protest over the Israel/Gaza war, book banning, trigger warnings, right-wing hate speech, the heckler's veto, and the recent attempts by public figures including Donald Trump to overturn the long-standing Sullivan v. The New York Times precedent shielding the media from libel claims.

Including an afterword by longtime free speech champion Nadine Strossen, Defending My Enemy offers razor-sharp analysis from the man Muck Rack describes as having "a glittering civil liberties resume."

Reviews

Praise for Defending My Enemy:
Aryeh Neiers 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 mattersnot just for the voices we agree with, but for the voices we abhor. Neiers 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 bookand more importantly, live its lessons.
Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

Author Bio

Aryeh Neier has been the National Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, a co-founder of Human Rights Watch, and the President of the Open Societies Institute. In addition to writing half a dozen books on civil and human rights, he has authored over three hundred op-eds for venues including the New York Review of Books, the New York Times Book Review, and Foreign Policy. He lives in New York City.