Renowned English author and revolutionary John Milton is most famous for writing the epic poem “Paradise Lost” — the Genesis story aimed at “justifying the ways of God to men.” But if you’re a fan of free speech, Milton’s most important work for you may be “Areopagitica,” a short polemical pamphlet he wrote 23 years earlier, which argued “For the Liberty of unlicensed printing.”
Written in 1644, “Areopagitica” was a work of its own tumultuous political moment. The British Parliament had just overthrown and beheaded the king of England, Charles I. They judged him tyrannical for, among other things, refusing to let Parliament check his power over English governance. Adding to this, fights over religious truth — and related fights over the proper role of the church in government and daily life — simmered across Europe since Johann Gutenburg invented the printing press. The resulting proliferation of printed media — broadsides, pamphlets, books — allowed people to read on a scale that simply hadn’t been economically or technically possible.
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