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Reading • Democracy’s Prisoner

Book Digest The Eugene V. Debs story is a moving, albeit instructive one, though he likely will never be given his due as one of the great figures of American history. Jailed for speaking out against the so-called “war to end all wars,” Socialist Debs ran for president in 1920, garnering a million votes. By the way, when he was finally released from that same Atlanta penitentiary, the whole of the prison’s population—guards and prisoners—cheered him. Nadine Strossen, who is president of the A.C.L.U., asserts:
Democracy’s Prisoner powerfully reminds us of the pressure that war places on our First Amendment rights. The fight to free Debs almost a century ago was the first time that Americans organized to defend the right to speak against war. A timely lesson for us today.
No doubt. —Robert Birnbaum, Jun. 30, 2008

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