{"product_id":"darkest-before-dawn-sedition-and-free-speech-in-the-american-west-paperback","title":"Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eClemens P. Work\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo weeks after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, the town of Lewistown, Montana, held a patriotic parade. Less than a year later, a mob of 500 Lewistown residents burned German textbooks in Main Street while singing The Star Spangled Banner. In Lewistown's nationalistic fervor, a man was accused of being pro-German because he didn't buy Liberty Bonds; he was subsequently found guilty of sedition. Montana's former congressman Tom Stout was quoted in the town's newspaper, The Democrat-News, \"With our sacred honor and our liberties at stake, there can be but two classes of American citizens, patriots and traitors!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDarkest Before Dawn\u003c\/em\u003e takes to task Montana's 1918 sedition law that shut down freedom of speech. The sedition law carried fines of up to $20,000 and imprisonment for as many as twenty years. It became a model for the federal sedition act passed in 1918. Clemens Work explores the assault on civil rights during times of war when dissent is perceived as unpatriotic. The themes of this cautionary tale clearly resonate in the events of the early twenty-first century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is history at its exciting, human best. Clemens Work tells the little-known story of how Americans were punished for what they said during World War I: imprisoned, brutalized, lynched. It is a crucial part of the American struggle for freedom of speech.\"--Anthony Lewis, columnist for the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e and author of \u003cem\u003eGideon's Trumpet\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMake No Law\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 328\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.87 x 8.98 x 6.08 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2006\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52932104356147,"sku":"9780826337931","price":51.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/jLRnqeGy0Y9780826337931.webp?v=1767866142","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/darkest-before-dawn-sedition-and-free-speech-in-the-american-west-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}