Banned Books

Why: Racially offensive--From Christian Science Monitor's Books that have Been Challenged. Racism, insensitivity and offensive language. Source: The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2002.

Why: In Mark Twain's lifetime, his books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were excluded from the juvenile sections of the Brooklyn Public library (among other libraries), and banned from the library in Concord, MA. In recent years, some high schools have dropped Huckleberry Finn from their reading lists, or have been sued by parents who want the book dropped

Why: Censored in several European dictatorships in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1929, Italy banned all editions of his Call of the Wild, and that same year Yugoslavia banned all his works as being "too radical".

Why: Banned from public libraries in Yugoslavia (1929). Burned in the Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair's socialist views (1933). Banned in East Germany (1956) as inimical to communism. Banned in South Korea (1985).

Why: Withdrawn in Boston in 1881, after the District Attorney threatened criminal prosecution for the use of explicit language in some poems.

Why: Conflicts with values of the community--From Christian Science Monitor's Books that have Been Challenged.

Why: Racial/Ethnic, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Language; Offensive Language. Source: FileRoom; Ten Most Challenged Books of 2003

Why: Banned under the US Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (AKA Comstock Law). Source: FileRoom.

Why: Conflicts with values of the community--Christian Science Monitor's Books that have Been Challenged.

Why: In 1961 an Oklahoma City group called Mothers United for Decency hired a trailer, dubbed it "smutmobile," and displayed books deemed objectionable, including Lawrence's novel. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide

Why: Encourages homosexuality.

Why: Obscenity. Not just banned, but burned in US, Canada, England and Ireland, even after critical acclaim