“Silence,” A.A. Attanasio wrote, “is a text easy to misread.” It is all the more brave and impressive, then, that Louis Michael Seidman has undertaken a project that places silence at its very heart. As Seidman observes, somewhat paradoxically, ever since Miranda v. Arizona, the words “You have the right to remain silent” have become the most famous in our popular constitutional culture. And yet, “What a strange right this is. Of all the activities that are especially worthy of human beings… why privilege silence?” ...