Free Speech Generation

Today, free speech is among America’s most powerful values. But for most of the nation’s history, the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech did little to protect those who challenged power or offended public morals. A newspaper publisher could be prosecuted for ridiculing the president. A birth-control advocate could be gagged by Boston’s mayor. Protesters could be jailed for distributing antiwar leaflets, and an author could even be arrested for reading the Constitution aloud.

In Free Speech Generation, FIRE Executive Vice President Nico Perrino tells the dramatic story of the people who made the First Amendment’s promise real. Some were lawyers and professors. Others were journalists, students, internet pioneers, and professional heretics. Many first embraced free speech as a tactic in fights for labor, civil rights, sexual freedom, or peace. However, over time, they forged it into a principle — one they extended even to communists, Klansmen, neo-Nazis, flag burners, and pornographers.

Through vivid portraits and courtroom battles, Free Speech Generation reveals:

• How America went 140 years before the Supreme Court first struck down a speech restriction under the First Amendment
• Why a Jewish lawyer defended neo-Nazis who wanted to rally where thousands of Holocaust survivors lived
• How the Berkeley Free Speech Movement anticipated a constitutional revolution
• How burning the American flag came to represent a “bedrock” First Amendment principle
• How early cyber-libertarians stopped Congress from imposing broad censorship rules on the emerging internet
• Why today’s fights over hate speech, campus censorship, misinformation, and political retaliation continue battles civil libertarians have fought for decades

At once a collective biography, constitutional history, and political drama, Free Speech Generation asks whether the civil libertarians who created America’s Free Speech Century left behind a lasting inheritance — or a fragile achievement already beginning to crack.

PRE-ORDER NICO'S BOOK AND FILL OUT THIS FORM FOR A FREE T-SHIRT

• Pre-order a copy of Free Speech Generation by Nico Perrino in any format, including ebook, from any retailer (or buy it on release day) and submit your receipt below to receive a limited-edition FIRE T-shirt, free with an order made by January 19, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
• This promotion is limited to one entry per person, and the deadline to submit your proof of purchase is January 19, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
• Those who submit eligible proof of purchase by the deadline, before supplies run out, will receive their T-shirt by mail in February 2027. All shirts ship together after the entry period closes. After the promotion ends, remaining shirts will be sold in FIRE's online store.
• The promotion is restricted to legal residents of the 50 United States and Washington, D.C., who are 18 or older as of the date of entry. Fill out the form below.

Enter the transaction or order number from your receipt for Free Speech Generation by Nico Perrino and upload a picture of that receipt to participate in this offer. Pre-orders and release-day purchases made through January 19, 2027, from any retailer and in any format, including ebooks, qualify. Must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. No groups, clubs, or organizations may participate. Limited to one request per person and one request per IP address. Incomplete forms will not be eligible. Multiple submissions from the same email address will be automatically disqualified. U.S. mailing address required. This limited-edition T-shirt is free only with an order made by January 19, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. ET, while supplies last. After the promotion ends, remaining shirts will be sold in FIRE's online store. Please allow 4–6 weeks after the entry period closes for your T-shirt to arrive by mail. Offer valid between October 21, 2026, and January 19, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Proof of purchase is used to confirm eligibility and prevent duplicate claims; it is not shared with any retailer. You may, but do not need to, cover or cross out any partial credit card number or other payment information on your receipt before uploading it. Please leave the order number, retailer, book title and order date visible. FIRE will delete all receipt images once shirts have shipped. FIRE reserves the right to disqualify entries it reasonably believes to be fraudulent or duplicative. This offer is made by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by any retailer.

Book cover art: Used with permission of The Oakland Tribune 2026. All rights reserved.