Banned Books

Banned in the U. S. A. Since the first edition was published to acclaim and awards in 1994, librarians have relied on the work of noted intellectual freedom authority Herbert N. Foerstel. This expanded edition presents a thorough analysis of the current state of book banning in schools and public libraries, offering ready reference material on major incidents, legal cases, and annotated entries on the most frequently challenged books. Every section of this work has been significantly rewritten, updated, or expanded to reflect those developments. In-depth accounts of three new landmark book banning incidents are featured, along with a discussion of recent Supreme Court decisions involving censorship on the Internet and in book publishing, and a consideration of their implications for book banning in schools and public libraries. Two new interviews with authors of banned books--David Guterson and Leslea Newman--join the interviews with authors profiled in the first edition, many of which have been updated. The heart of the book is a Survey of Banned Books, revised with annotated entries on the 50 most frequently challenged books for 1996 through 2000; the Harry Potter series tops the list. Finally, all new appendixes feature an updated ALA list of Most Frequently Challenged Books and Authors Through 2000 and graphs that help to clarify key information.

Book Banning in 21st-Century America Requests for the removal, relocation, and restriction of books--also known as challenges--occur with some frequency in the United States. Book Banning in 21st-Century American Libraries, based on thirteen contemporary book challenge cases in schools and public libraries across the United States argues that understanding contemporary reading practices, especially interpretive strategies, is vital to understanding why people attempt to censor books in schools and public libraries. Previous research on censorship tends to focus on legal frameworks centered on Supreme Court cases, historical case studies, and bibliographies of texts that are targeted for removal or relocation and is often concerned with how censorship occurs. The current project, on the other hand, is focused on the why of censorship and posits that many censorship behaviors and practices, such as challenging books, are intimately tied to the how one understands the practice of reading and its effects on character development and behavior. It discusses reading as a social practice that has changed over time and encompasses different physical modalities and interpretive strategies. In order to understand why people challenge books, it presents a model of how the practice of reading is understood by challengers including "what it means" to read a text, and especially how one constructs the idea of "appropriate" reading materials. The book is based on three different kinds sources. The first consists of documents including requests for reconsideration and letters, obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to governing bodies, produced in the course of challenge cases. Recordings of book challenge public hearings constitute the second source of data. Finally, the third source of data is interviews with challengers themselves. The book offers a model of the reading practices of challengers. It demonstrates that challengers are particularly influenced by what might be called a literal "common sense" orientation to text wherein there is little room for polysemic interpretation (multiple meanings for text). That is, the meaning of texts is always clear and there is only one avenue for interpretation. This common sense interpretive strategy is coupled with what Cathy Davidson calls "undisciplined imagination" wherein the reader is unable to maintain distance between the events in a text and his or her own response. These reading practices broaden our understanding of why people attempt to censor books in public institutions.

Book Bans and Censorship Looks at the political debate and the social movements behind the resurgence in authoritarianism.

Controversial Books in K-12 Classrooms and Libraries Controversial Books in K-12 Classrooms and Libraries: Challenged, Censored, and Banned analyzes the history of controversy surrounding assigned reading in K-12 classrooms and books available in school libraries. Randy Bobbitt outlines the history of book banning and controversy in the United States, stemming from 1950s conservative Cold War values of patriotism and respect for authority and ramping up through the 1960s and onward as media coverage and parental intervention into the inner workings of schools increased. The author claims that sensitive topics, including sexuality, suicide, and drug use, do not automatically imply the glorification of deviant behavior, but can be used constructively to educate students about the reality of life. Bobbitt argues that in an effort to shield children from the dangers of controversial issues, parents and administrators are depriving them of the ability to discover and debate values that are inconsistent with their own and those around them, teaching instead that avoidance of different viewpoints is the solution. Scholars of education, communication, literature, and policy will find this book especially useful.

Critical Insights: Censored & Banned Literature Censored & Banned Literature examines the wide range of important literary texts that have been subjected to censorship, either at the time of their first publication, later in their history, or both. Because important works frequently offer challenging responses to social, historical, and political issues, often it is the very best works that provoke - at least initially - the most hostility or discomfort. This volume includes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884), The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951) and Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987).

Defining Documents in American History: Censorship Censorship can occur in all levels of society, no matter how free and democratic they may be, from schools banning certain books, to movies and music being regulated and age-restricted, to outspoken advocates of various causes being stifled in promoting their views. Censorship is not a cut-and-dry issue – there are many sides at play in any instance of censorship, from those who seek to prevent certain content from being accessed, to those who seek to promulgate that information and even subvert attempts at censorship. These volumes explore historical examples of censorship in the United States, from the banning of James Joyce's "Ulysses" due to concerns about obscenity, to Hollywood’s creation of the Hays Code to regulate sensitive topics such as sex and violence in movies, to repeated challenges over controversial books such as The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird in schools. It also touches on The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) creating the parental advisory label in 1987 to warn consumers of explicit content in music, and other modern examples of censorship in the media as the landscape shifts away from traditional means of conveying information. The material is organized into curated sections, each beginning with a brief introduction that examines the importance of the topic through a variety of historical documents. The documents contained within these sections provide an overview of the history and significance of censorship in American society, exploring the immediate repercussions as well as the long-term effects these events had in reshaping American society. Documents examined include historical accounts, court cases, news articles, and more.

The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library In 1950, after three decades of exemplary service, Brown was summarily dismissed from her job as librarian at the Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Public Library. Though the ostensible reason was circulating subversive materials, Robbins (Library and Information studies, U. of Wisconsin-Madison) says it was because she advocated racial equality and had helped form a group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality. She emphasizes the matrix of personal, community, state, and national forces that can still lead to censorship, intolerance, and suppression.

The Index of Prohibited Books The first comprehensive history of the Catholic Church's notorious Index, with resonance for ongoing debates over banned books, censorship, and free speech.   For more than four hundred years, the Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum struck terror into the hearts of authors, publishers, and booksellers around the world, while arousing ridicule and contempt from many others, especially those in Protestant and non-Christian circles. Biased, inconsistent, and frequently absurd in its attempt to ban objectionable texts of every conceivable description--with sometimes fatal consequences--the Index also reflected the deep learning and careful consideration of many hundreds of intellectual contributors over the long span of its storied evolution. This book constitutes the first full study of the Index of Prohibited Books to be published in English. It examines the reasons behind the Church's attempts to censor religious, scientific, and artistic works, and considers not only why this most sustained of campaigns failed, but what lessons can be learned for today's debates over freedom of expression and cancel culture.

Oppposing Censorship in Public Schools In the past several years, hundreds of challenges a year to books used in public schools have been reported across the nation. Most of these have come from the Religious Right. This book confronts the attacks on public education and commonly used literature books by challenging the religious assumptions, the biblical interpretations, and the intimidation tactics of the Religious Right. Part I counters the claims of these censors by presenting opposing views on democracy, secular humanism, religion, the Bible, morality, and the purposes of literature. In Part II, six books frequently taught in high school classes are analyzed. Edwards shows why they have been challenged by the Religious Right, and presents a case for their moral and religious virtues as well as their literary worth. The book differs from other anti-censorship works because it deals primarily and directly with the religious and moral aspects that educators often tend to avoid. This book offers teachers and school administrators scholarly conterarguments that can help confront with literature challenges from the Religious Right.

Seize the Book, Jail the Author Under the patronage of two south German nobles, Johann Lorenz Schmidt published an annotated translation of the Bible's opening books in 1735. The story of the controversy the work aroused and of its eventual suppression sheds light on many aspects of the eighteenth century, as well as the nature of censorship in our time.

Silenced in the Library Censorship has been an ongoing phenomenon even in "the land of the free." This examination of banned books across U.S. history examines the motivations and effects of censorship, shows us how our view of right and wrong has evolved over the years, and helps readers to understand the tremendous importance of books and films in our society.Books ranging from classics such as A Farewell to Arms, Lord of the Rings, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Color Purple as well as best-selling books such as Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret, titles in the Harry Potter series, and various books by bestselling novelist Stephen King have all been on the banned books list. What was the content that got them banned, who wanted them banned, and did the ban have the desired effect of minimizing the number of people who read the title--or did it have the opposite effect, inadvertently creating an even larger readership for the book?Silenced in the Library: Banned Books in America provides a comprehensive examination of the challenges to major books as well as the final results of these selections being deemed "unfit for public consumption." Included in its discussion are explanations of the true nature of the objections along with the motives of the authors, publishers, and major proponents of the books. Content is organized based on why the books were banned, such as sexual content, drug use, or religious objections. This approach helps readers to see trends in how people have approached the challenge of evaluating what is "proper" and shows how our societal consensus of what is acceptable has evolved over the years. Readers will come away with a fuller appreciation of the immense power of words on a page--or an eReader device--to inflame and outrage, influence opinion, incite thought, and even change the course of history.

True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries Intellectual freedom is a core value of librarianship, but fighting to keep controversial materials on the shelves can sometimes feel like a lonely battle. And not all censorship controversies involve the public objecting to a book in the collection-libraries are venues for displays and meetings, and sometimes library staff themselves are tempted to preemptively censor a work. Those facing censorship challenges can find support and inspiration in this book, which compiles dozens of stories from library front lines. Edifying and enlightening, this collection Tells the stories of several librarians who withstood difficult circumstances to champion intellectual freedom Touches on prickly issues such as age-appropriateness, some librarians temptation to preemptively censor, sensitive cultural expressions, and criminality in the library Presents case studies of defenses that were unsuccessful, so librarians facing similar challenges can learn from these defeats There are fewer situations more stressful in a librarians professional life than being personally confronted with a demand to remove a book from the shelves or not knowing how to respond to other kinds of censorship challenges. Reading this book will help fortify and inform those in the fray.

100 Banned Books : Censorship Histories of World Literature 100 Banned Books profiles well-known, often classic works that have been censored for religious, political, social or sexual reasons. Each entry gives readers a summary of the work, its censorship history and suggestions for further reading.

120 Banned Books : Censorship Histories and World Literature Tracing the censorship histories of 120 works from around the world, this title provides a summary of each work, its censorship history, and suggestions for further reading. Updates to existing entries cover new controversies regarding such classic books as 'Huckleberry Finn' and 'The Canterbury Tales'.

Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds Gives plot synopses of 105 works of fiction and nonfiction censored for their political content, and details the censorship history of each. Works covered include Black Boy, Gulliver's Travels, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Includes biographical prof

Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds Discusses some 100 books that have been targets of religious censorship over the centuries, encompassing texts of the world's major religions, novels, and classic works of philosophy, science, and history, as well as contemporary works. Alphabetical entries describe the content of each work and rev

Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds When Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata was banned from distribution through the mail (except for first class) in 1890, New York street vendors began selling it from pushcarts carrying large signs reading ""Suppressed!"" In 1961, the United States Supreme Court pondered whether D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover was lewd or literary. In 1969, the novel was required reading in many college literature courses. Changing sexual mores have moved many formerly forbidden books out of locked cabinets and into libraries and classrooms.

Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds From Uncle Tom's Cabin to East of Eden, and from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and more.