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Contrary to the typically rosy view of early american history levy shows that the idea of a free and unrestrained press was not sacred from the moment the pilgrims touched down and ensuring a free press via the first amendment was and is a continual struggle. Emergence of a free press leonard w levys legacy of suppression so disturbed supreme court justice hugo l black that he called it one of the mosts devastating blows that has been delivered against civil liberty for a long time. In emergence of a free press a greatly revised and enlarged edition of his landmark legacy of suppression leonard w levy argues that the first amendment was not designed to be the bulwark of a free press that many thought nor had the amendments framers intended to overturn the common law of seditious libel that was the principal means of stifling political dissent. In other words freedom of the press meant that a publisher had the freedom to publish but not without impunity in emergence of free press levy rethinks many of the controversial opinions put. For anyone seriously interested in the first amendment this treatise by levy is a historical and legal masterwork contrary to the typically rosy view of early american history levy shows that the idea of a free and unrestrained press was not sacred from the moment the pilgrims touched down and ensuring a free press via the first amendment was and is a continual struggle