Desecrating the American flag : key documents of the controversy from the Civil War to 1995 /

"Stunned outrage" was the public response to Texas v. Johnson (1989), in which the US Supreme Court struck down a state flag desecration law and ruled that "expressive" nonverbal conduct, such as burning the American flag, is protected by the First Amendment. Politicians, reflecting public sentiment, responded to the decision with a flurry of legislation and proposed constitutional amendments empowering Congress and the states to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag. Although these attempts to circumvent the Court's holding have not been successful, proponents of protecting the flag as a unique and special symbol of freedom and of the nation remain a vocal political force. Goldstein uses narrative and 147 key documents to review thoroughly the history of the flag desecration controversy from its beginnings with the Flag Protection Movement's reactions to commercialization of the flag in the 1890s, through communist scares of the 1920s and 1950s and Vietnam War era protests, to the present. Recommended for students of civil liberties and democratic theory. T. M. Vestal; Oklahoma State University