This book is a breathtaking achievement. It brings together the insights and learning of a lifetime of study of the subject by a meticulous and rigorous scholar. Professor Barendt has marshalled an immense amount of detail and deployed it in a way that clears rather than obscures the path through a field fraught with conceptual, legal and political controversies. This book is an object-lesson in comparative human rights law, stimulating the reader to relfect on the use of comparative method, philosophy and public law. It has already become my trusted guide on free-speech issues. I recommend it enthusiastically to scholars, practioneers and students, all of whom will learn a great deal from it and find much to enjoy in it.

"Very nice overview."--John Peters, University of Iowa "Challenging and thought provoking. Ideal collateral reading."--Joseph E. Schuster, Eastern Washington University "A welcome addition to the literature on the first amendment."--D. Grier Stephenson, Jr., Franklin and Marshall College "A novel and imaginative perspective on the role of freedom of speech in our society."--New York Times Book Review "Elegantly written....Rich in perceptive observations. The analysis is balanced and never hackneyed....As interesting on the third reading as on the first."--Columbia Law Review "Very nice overview."--John Peters, University of Iowa "Challenging and thought provoking. Ideal collateral reading."--Joseph E. Schuster, Eastern Washington University "A welcome addition to the literature on the first amendment."--D. Grier Stephenson, Jr., Franklin and Marshall College "A novel and imaginative perspective on the role of freedom of speech in our society."--New York Times Book Review "Elegantly written....Rich in perceptive observations. The analysis is balanced and never hackneyed....As interesting on the third reading as on the first."--Columbia Law Review "A distinctive and attractive argument that deserves to figure prominently in all future deliberations on the subject."--Political Theory "Thoughtful, provocative, and well worth reading."--Ethics "Bollinger has made a valuable contribution to free speech theory by reexamining the fundamental bases on which freedom of expression rests."--Michigan Law Review "Continually asking bold, disquieting questions, Bollinger's study is analytic, syncretic, and reaffirmative: legal history at its best."--Library Journal "Very occasionally a book is published that takes an entirely new approach to an old topic. Lee Bollinger has written such a book about freedom of expression....A very stimulating book, which offers a new look at First Amendment theory. All students and teachers of freedom of speech will find it challenging.--Quarterly Journal of Speech "An important book, The Tolerant Society is comprised of eight essays that explore a broad question: How can the modern concept of freedom of speech be defended without relying on outmoded ideas of the past? This could be the opening salvo in an intellectual battle continuing well into the next century."--Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom "Reading The Tolerant Society is like participating in an excellent conversation. The book does not lecture or posture or browbeat. It engages the reader in a common endeavor, a calm but insistent inquiry, into a troubling and important problem. The best of faith is assumed, and even the most ominous possibilities are raised carefully and moderately. As can happen with a prolonged and illuminating conversation, only gradually does the reader recognise the force in the encounter."--California Law Review "Professor Bollinger has written a challenging and original reappraisal of the significance of the first amendment and its interpretation."--International and Comparative Law Quarterly