As Albert Camus once said, “A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.” This quote certainly raise a question, to what extent the press is allowed of freedom of speech, and on what grounds it should not be affected by the government. But more importantly, how does law and justice should protect these rights of press. The book Make No Law is about a very rare case, in which heroes are heroes, the villains are villains, and everyone can be characterized as one or the other.
It was written by Anthony Lewis, a public intellectual and a legal journalist, author and professor, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a New York Time magazine columnist, the book is a great (narration…show more content… Throughout the book, he explains legal concepts to the general reader with great proficiency, describing the evolution of the case, as well as a brief and comprehensive history of the civil rights movement during that time. Although the book in some parts may seem dense, there are very detailed and thorough reference everywhere, so as the detailed explanations of technical terms. Certainly, Lewis did an outstanding job twisting together the narration with appropriate excerpts from Supreme Court, juristic documents as well as personal notes and letters, which are surprisingly easy to follow. I particularly enjoyed the chapter where Lewis describes what went on during the weeks when the opinion was being circulated, since it gave some perceptions about what happens behind the scenes at the Supreme Court and how the judges think, decide, and influence each other. You can tell that the author wrote it from the heart, putting together materials that meant a lot to him, with power and strong feeling to represent it to others.
However, Lewis is not satisfied to give the readers just facts, he twirl stories with morals. He begins with a Supreme Court case and ends up reviewing this country's long experience of free speech dissension. Comparing against his immersion in context is an inclination towards to generalize widely from his subject matter. Basically,…show more content… It has inspired me to really think about legal issues concerning the press. Its astonishing with what effort American people did to make sure that there is freedom of press and speech, standing up to government is not an easy thing, and usually the decision goes in favor of latter. But government shouldn't be like a jail, where rules and policies are stubborn and cant be changed just because it is not beneficial for inmate. Government is an organization that should make decision in favor of people and their life, but not for itself. Surprisingly what happened in the United States decades ago hasn't happened in China yet. There is a high possibility that China will collapse, because the internet is exploding, and sooner or later, media will get out of control, and my only concern is, how bad the situation will