The Tolerant Society

This book is a breathtaking achievement. It brings together the insights and learning of a lifetime of study of the subject by a meticulous and rigorous scholar. Professor Barendt has marshalled an immense amount of detail and deployed it in a way that clears rather than obscures the path through a field fraught with conceptual, legal and political controversies. This book is an object-lesson in comparative human rights law, stimulating the reader to relfect on the use of comparative method, philosophy and public law. It has already become my trusted guide on free-speech issues. I recommend it enthusiastically to scholars, practioneers and students, all of whom will learn a great deal from it and find much to enjoy in it.