Join us for a live, interactive conversation with critically acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Ellis Cose, on his latest book, The Short Life & Curious Death of Free Speech in America (on sale 9/15/20). which Kirkus Reviews says is "A knowledgeable and timely perspective on the current fraught state of democracy."

Cose’s powerful new book explores one of the most essential rights in America – free speech – and reveals how it is crumbling under the combined weight of polarization, technology, money, and systemized lying. He argues the safeguards built into the Constitution to protect free speech and democracy have instead become instruments of suppression. Cose offers an eye-opening wholly original examination of the state of free speech in America today, litigating ideas that touch on every American’s life. Analyzing the experiences of other countries, weaving landmark court cases together with a critical look at contemporary applications, and invoking the lessons of history, including the Great Migration, Cose sheds much-needed light on this cornerstone of American culture and offers a clarion call for activism and change. National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi describes Cose’s work as “stunningly original” and “an abolitionist book for this moment, for this time when free speech slumbers in chains.” In an engaging conversation with Professor Nadine Strossen, Cose will shed light on this cornerstone of American culture and offer a clarion call for activism and change.

Ellis Cose is the author of a dozen books on issues of national and international concern, including the best-selling The Rage of a Privileged Class, a novel (The Best Defense), and Democracy, If We Can Keep It, the definitive history of the American Civil Liberties Union. For 17 years, Cose was a columnist and contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. He is a former chairman of the editorial board and editorial page editor of the New York Daily News as well as an independent radio documentary producer. Cose was the inaugural writer in residence for the ACLU. He has appeared on a range of national and international news programs, including Dateline, ABC News, and Good Morning America. Cose will be in conversation with Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita at New York Law School. Strossen has written, taught, and advocated extensively in the areas of constitutional law and civil liberties. From 1991 through 2008, she served as President of the American Civil Liberties Union, the first woman to head the nation’s largest and oldest civil liberties organization.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of the book from one of our local independent bookstore, Browseabout Books, by clicking HERE. Call-in orders are accepted or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

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Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here.