Banned Books   Tags: banned, books, libraries, literature  

Books have been banned as long as there have been books and continue to be banned or challenged even today. A banned book is a book that may be:

• removed from a library or libraries;
• not allowed to be published;
• not allowed to enter an entire country;
• not allowed to exist: to be physically destroyed, typically by burning, such as the notorious book burning in Nazi Germany.
• The most extreme form of banning is the death or demand for the death of the author, as during the Inquisition, or more recently with Salman Rushdie.
• A challenged book is one that someone has tried to ban, but did not succeed.

The reason to ban books generally boils down to ideas that are perceived as dangerous in some way to an individual, group, or government that does not want other people to have access to that idea, whether the idea is about God, government or society.

1. What happens when people are denied access to books and the ideas contained in them?
2. What happens when an author’s right to freedom of speech (in this country) is denied?
3. Is it a coincidence that some of the greatest books ever written are also some of the most banned or challenged books?

The books listed below are a small sample of the books available. Must be on campus or have COM ID to access. Search for more.

Want more on EBSCO eBooks? Learn how to download or transfer EBSCO eBooks to a mobile device and more in the EBSCO eBooks LibGuide.

Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries

Opposing Censorship in the Public Schools: Religion, Morality, and Literature

Seize the Book, Jail the Author: Johann Lorenz Schmidt and Censorship in Eighteenth-century Germany

The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library

Learn what banned books are and the history of banned books. See which books on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novelsare available in COM Library that Have Been Banned or Challenged Elsewhere, see a list of Classic Books and Authors in COM Library That Have Been Banned or Challenged elsewhere, download free eBook versions of classic banned books and more!

COM Library stands firmly behind freedom of speech and the American Library Association (ALA) code: “We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.”

To see books banned and challenged recently, click on the blue markers to get details on the book banned in a pop up, or view a larger version of the map.

The books listed below are a small sample of the books available. Click on the titles for call number and COM Library info. Search WorldCat for more.

100 banned books : censorship histories of world literature

120 banned books : censorship histories and world literature

Book banning

Literature suppressed on political grounds

Literature suppressed on religious grounds

Literature suppressed on sexual grounds

Literature suppressed on social grounds