Easton's book is another attempt to delineate the debate surrounding censorship. It is thoroughly academic, insightful and rather dense hard work.
It does cover a tremendous amount of old ground. I reviewed Itzin's book and its opposition in the issue before last. Itzin's book, I believe, is still the best 'reader' on this subject.
Easton concentrates on the legal/moral framework in which the debates are situated and draws on many of the old voices (Dworkin et al ) to add spice to the argument.
There are chapters on 'Proving Harm', the British and U.S. legal systems and 'Feminism, truth and infallibility' which should indicate that it is an extremely well researched text, if quite boring. Students of Philosophy and Law maybe, otherwise give it a miss.
Nigel Larcombe
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