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First Amendment Felon

The Story of Frank Wilkinson, His 132,000-Page FBI File, and His Epic Fight for Civil Rights and Liberties

Robert Sherrill
November 2005     ISBN: 1560257792


Frank Wilkinson was one of the staunchest defenders of the First Amendment. This is his story.

Frank Wilkinson's life was a David-and Goliath battle against the enemies of the First Amendment. In 1961, with the help of the Supreme Court, he was railroaded and jailed at the hands of the House Un-American Committee--a body he spent years denouncing and was credited with helping abolish after its demise in 1975. One of the principal foes of J. Edgar Hoover, Wilkinson's FBI dossier was more than 130,000 pages long.

In this lively, witty biography by legendary journalist Robert Sherrill, Wilkinson comes to life as a man who went from being a college playboy to one of history's greatest and most tireless defenders of free speech in America.

About the Authors

Robert Sherrill covers corporate malfeasance for The Nation. He was formerly editor of the Texas Observer, chief of the Miami Herald's Washington bureau, and a reporter for the Washington Post. He has written numerous books on on politics and society.

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Deborah Stone's Book Tour

July 7 - November 2 | Across the United States
Deborah Stone, a Nation Books author, recently published her fourth book, The Samaritan's Dilemma. Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect calls it "a brilliant and persuasive statement of the case for organized compassion—not out of sentimentality but for the viability of society and our own self regard as a decent people." Listen to her on the radio and get a copy of the book signed at a bookstore on Stone's book tour. Find the schedule here.

August 25 | 6 pm
Bruce Mau Leads Green Symposium
(Denver, Colorado)
Institute Fellow Bruce Mau will lead the Green Constitutional Congress Symposium, which will cover a wide array of green-related topics. The symposium will take place at Buell Theater in Denver; it is produced by the Rhode Island School of Design and University of Colorado-Denver. The symposium is part of the larger event, Dialog:City at the DNC. For more information, click here. MORE

September 13
2008 ELECTION: What's Really at Stake?
(Cooper Union Auditorium, 30 Cooper Square, NYC)
Come listen to Institute Fellows Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill (also a Nation Books author of Blackwater) speak at a benefit for The Indypendent newspaper at Cooper Union Auditorium in New York City. Additional panelists to be announced; meet the speakers at a special pre-event reception. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit indypendent.org or call (212)-221-0521. MORE