My third book, co-authored with the sharp legal scholar Laura Wittern-Keller. This book was a convergence of tastes and interests and I think the product is one of the most solid contributions to the discussion of film censorship now available. The book reads like a lively conversation--wide ranging and even witty at times.
The Supreme Court case at the center of the book began the official decline of state censorship boards. The film at the center of the case is, like many of the most controversial works, largely forgotten but a very decent movie. Laura and I argue that the case was a watershed moment in the legal and intellectual debate over film censorship.
My second book and perhaps like second books I completed a thought that I had in the first. I wanted these books to operate as a coherent argument about the effects movies have had on the idea of art and culture. In Freedom to Offend, I looked at the collapse of film censorship and the movie culture that developed in the post-censor world. I argued (to the chagrin of Richard Schickel) that movies established a dangerous trend of exploiting freedom in the absence of censorship. I wondered, quite simply, whether the defense of art protected such exploitation.
My first book, and perhaps like many first books, I had one solid idea and the time to work on how to express it. It stands as an effort to explain what role movies played in changing the meaning of art and mass culture in American life. The book was also my shameless expression of admiration for film critics--a class of intellectuals who I think are still vastly under-rated. 
