LibGuides: Banned Books: More Banned Classics

Banned Classics

These classics that have been banned or challenged elsewhere, are free for COM students, faculty and staff. Print books can be checked out with a COM ID; for eBooks must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Also available in print: PS 3570 A48 J6 1989
Why: Conflicts with values of the community.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Why: Too depressing
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Also available in print: PS3515.E37 F6 1996
Why: Graphic violence
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Also available in print: PR6045.A97 B7 1993
Why: Promotes Homosexuality
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Also available in print: PR1870.A1 W7 2008
Why: Criticism of the church, obscene language, sexual content.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Also available in print: PS 2384 .M6 2007
ISBN: 9781598530858
Why: Conflicts with values of the community.
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Also available in print: Leisure Collection (Shelved alphabetically by Author) Rowling
Why: Anti-christian, violence
The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring (1-3) by J. R. R. Tolkien
Also available in print: PR6039.O32 F45 1994b
Why: Satanic
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Also available in print: PS3552.A45 G6 1963
Why: Violence, sexuality, profanity
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Also available in print: PR6019.O9 P63 1993
Why: Banned under the US Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (AKA Comstock Law).
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Also available in print: PS 3561 N68 S4 1996
Why: Graphic language
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Also available in print: PS 3537 T3234 A6 1994
Why: Racial/Ethnic, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Language; Offensive Language.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Also available in print: PS3572.O5 C3 2010
Why: Sick
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Also available in print: PR4611.A78 2003
Why: promotion of drug use, portrayal of anthropomorphized animals.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Why: Undermines religious beliefs.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Also available in print: PS1306 .A1 1991a
Why: Racially offensive. Racism, insensitivity and offensive language--The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2002.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Also available in print: PS3551.N464 Z466 2002
Why: Sexually explicit; doesn't represent traditional values. Sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group. One of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2002.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Also available in print: PS 1868.A2 M87 2004
Why: Immoral; Conflicts with values of the community.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Also available in print: PS3503.R167 F4 2013
Why: Contained the words “god damn.”
Native Son by Richard Wright
Also available in print: PS3545.R815 N25 1969
Why: Sexually graphic and violent.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Also available in print: PS3551.N27 B58 1978
Why: occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Also available in print: PS3563.O8749 B55 1994
Why: profanity, sexual references, and materials deemed unsuitable for students.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Also available in print: PS3563.O8749 S6 1995
Why: Sexually explicit, degrading to blacks
Twelfth Night : Or, What You Will by William Shakespeare
Also available in print: PR2837.A2 R28 2007
Why: Encourages homosexuality.