Book censorship is the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational material – of images, ideas, and information – on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable according to the standards applied by the censor. Censorship is "the regulation of speech and other forms of expression by an entrenched authority".Miller, Cynthia J. "Censorship." ''Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices'', edited by Chapman, Roger and James Ciment, Routledge, 2013. The overall intent of censorship, in any form, is to act as "a kind of safeguard for society, typically to protect norms and values ..censorship suppresses what is considered objectionable from a political, moral, or religious standpoint." The

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: ...

Libraries, which conduct research on banned books in the United States, have defined a banned book as one that has been "removed from a library, classroom, etc." and a challenged book as one that "has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc." by a censor. Public and school libraries in the US have the ability to limit children's choice of books to read. This problem "highlights the tension between parental authority and society, but it is ultimately about defining American Value." It has been suggested that as there are parental guidance to films, there is a need for something similar for books. Some of the banned books are valuable in helping children discover their identities or educate themselves. These are not all banned in all states, by all educators. Sponsors of literacy in education have carried out censorship, including parents, school boards, lobbying groups, clergy, librarians and teachers. Banning, one of the most permanent and effective method of censorship, begins with a challenge and then progresses until the book is no longer available to any student in a school, library or district. In many cases, books are banned or petitioned to be banned by parents who are concerned about the material their children are reading. People For The American Way reported that in the school year from 1991–1992, the success of censors in having books removed in some capacity rose to 41 percent from 34 percent in the previous year. In response, several professional organizations such as the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

(ALA), the

Freedom to Read Foundation The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is an American non-profit anti-censorship organization, established in 1969 by the American Library Association.Samek, Toni (2007). Librarianship and Human Rights: a twenty-first century guide. Cambridge: Woodh ...

, and the National Coalition Against Censorship have employed various initiatives to help combat book censorship in all its forms. Combating book censorship with their advocacy for

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

rights, these long-standing organizations have been at the center of multiple Supreme Court cases spanning from the early 1970s.

History

During the 17th century, a typical form of book censorship in the United States was

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...

. In October 1650,

William Pynchon William Pynchon (October 11, 1590 – October 29, 1662) was an English colonist and fur trader in North America best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was also a colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massac ...

's pamphlet, ''The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption'', was criticized and promptly burned by the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

government. This book burning in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

is often referred to and even considered the "first book burning in America". On March 3, 1873, the ''

Comstock Law The Comstock laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws.Dennett p.9 The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the Suppression o ...

'' was passed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

under the

Grant administration The presidency of Ulysses S. Grant began on March 4, 1869, when Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated as the 18th president of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1877. The Reconstruction era took place during Grant's two terms of office. The Ku ...

; also referred to as an Act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use". The Act criminalized usage of the U.S. Postal Service to send any of the following items:

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use ...

, contraceptive, abortifacients,

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibratin ...

s, personal letters alluding to any sexual content or information, or any information regarding the above items. The Act not only restrained the distribution of pornography but also the spread of medical journals that held information regarding contraceptives and abortion. In

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where the federal government has direct jurisdiction, the act also made it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to sell, give away, or have in possession any "obscene" publication.Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Rereading Sex. New York: Random House, 2002. Half of the states passed similar anti-obscenity statutes that also banned possession and sale of obscene materials.Beisel, Nicola. Imperiled Innocents. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1997. p. 4

/ref> ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...

'',

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

's collection of poetry, was withdrawn in Boston in 1881, after the District Attorney threatened criminal prosecution for the use of explicit language in some poems. The work was later published in Philadelphia. This version went through five editions of 1,000 copies each. Its first printing, released on July 18, 1882 sold out in a day. Mark Twain's book ''

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...

'' has been challenged. It was first published in the United States in February 1885 and was promptly banned by librarians in Massachusetts in March of the same year. The book has faced further scrutiny in recent times due to Twain's frequent use of the word "nigger" as well as the novel being described as "racially insensitive," and as "perpetuat ngracism." It has since been, and still remains, among the top 100 most challenged books up to date. In 1915, architect William Sanger was charged under New York law for disseminating contraceptive information. His wife, Margaret Sanger, was similarly charged in 1915 for her work ''The Woman Rebel''. Sanger circulated this work through the U.S. postal service, effectively violating the Comstock Law. On appeal, her conviction was reversed on the grounds that contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for the cure and prevention of disease. The publication of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

's ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' in 1859 "unleashed a controversy that resonates even today. In presenting a revolutionary theory of evolution, the British naturalist challenged the biblical creation story and provoked the ire of detractors who accused him of 'dethroning God'. Despite the surrounding controversy, ''On the Origin of Species'' remained uncensored in the United States into the 1920s, when high school curricula started to incorporate the theory of Darwinian evolution." It was soon after banned in parts of America following the Scopes Trial in Tennessee. The Tennessee ban remained until 1967, "when the Supreme Court declared it in conflict with the First and Fourteenth Amendments". The banning of books became more prevalent during the twentieth century as

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

and progressive writers such as

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm mora ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

, and John Steinbeck began their literary careers. These authors did not refrain from revealing their opinions about controversial subject matter. For example, Hemingway's '' A Farewell to Arms'' depicts the grim realities of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and the story of the two lovers, Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley, includes graphic details of a childbirth gone awry. This story strays greatly from traditionalist literature, the majority of American literature at the time, which depicted good prevailing over evil. Some cities, including

, banned ''A Farewell to Arms'' in 1929, labeling the book "salacious." In addition, Boston in the 1920s censored other novels, such as ''

The American Mercury ''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wri ...

'', ''

Elmer Gantry ''Elmer Gantry'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonis ...

'', ''

An American Tragedy ''An American Tragedy'' is a 1925 novel by American writer Theodore Dreiser. He began the manuscript in the summer of 1920, but a year later abandoned most of that text. It was based on the notorious murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the trial of ...

'', '' Lady Chatterley's Lover'', and the published text of the play ''

Strange Interlude ''Strange Interlude'' is an experimental play in nine acts by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill began work on it as early as 1923 and developed its scenario in 1925; he wrote the play between May 1926 and the summer of 1927, and complete ...

''. The rise of censorship in Boston aroused local opposition. An article in a 1929 issue of ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'' stated: "it has become so tiresome to reproach Boston for their constant repression of creative work, that we are beginning to surrender in despair." The Boston censors countered that the censorship was justified because according to the U.S. federal political system, it is the duty of the states to implant their educational policies. The texts selected for the schools are ultimately approved by the state. School boards, as part of the Tenth Amendment, do have the right to select which state-approved text should be placed in the libraries. Over the years, parents on school boards have challenged their state's selection of certain books for their libraries. The main reasons of the parents and school boards is to protect children from content deemed by them as inappropriate. The state of Georgia created the Georgia Literature Commission in 1953, which initially described its role as aiding local prosecutors in enforcing the state's obscenity laws. In 1958, it gained the power to issue subpoenas and injunctions to stop publication. It censored hundreds of publications, but became less powerful after court rulings against it in the 1960s, and was abolished in 1973. In 2022, a report by the

found that book censorship had increased to unprecedented levels. The report noted that much of the censorship was directed towards books featuring

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

and racial minority perspectives, and described a growing trend of harassment and intimidation of librarians.

School boards

School boards have frequently been involved in litigation involving the rights of freedom to read, which is considered by some organizations to be encompassed in the

. Some legal cases have reached

state supreme court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in b ...

s and the

United States courts of appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals f ...

. Cases like ''Evans v. Selma Union High School District of Fresno County'' in 1924 ruled "The mere act of purchasing a book to be added to the school library does not carry with it any implication of the adoption of the theory or dogma contained therein, or any approval of the book itself except as a work of literature fit to be included in a reference library." In ''Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District'' in 1976, the court upheld the school district's decision to not allow certain texts to be used in a curriculum, but "found the removal of the books from the library to be unconstitutional, referring to the library as a 'storehouse of knowledge.'" Censorship has also been addressed by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in the case ''

Island Trees School District v. Pico ''Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico'', 457 U.S. 853 (1982), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court split on the First Amendment issue of local school boards removing library books from junior ...

'' in 1982. This case involved the school board removing certain books that it deemed inappropriate. The court came to the conclusion that, "The First Amendment imposes limitations upon a local school board's" discretion to remove books from high and junior high school libraries. The case was brought to the Supreme Court by five students who challenged their school board's decision to remove nine books from the school's library, after a challenge came from an organization called Parents of New York United. The Supreme Court ruled that, under the

, "Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books". Justice William Brennan, who wrote the opinion, reasoned that "Local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs, but such discretion must be exercised in a manner that comports with the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment". Brennan continues that school boards do have "absolute discretion to choose academic materials" and what texts are used in classrooms, so removing books from curriculum would not be unconstitutional, as long as a school board's discretion is not "exercised in a narrowly partisan or political manner." Finally, he comments on the library, saying it is a distinct institution as it represents the First Amendment's "role in affording the public access to discussion, debate and the dissemination of information and ideas." "

Reasons for censorship

Books are often challenged by concerned parents who desire to protect their children from the themes or content within books. Books can be banned for more than one reason as well. As of the ten years preceding 2016, the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom were: # The material was considered to be "sexually explicit". # The material contained "offensive language". # The material was "unsuited for a certain age group". According to the

(ALA), there are also more than 20 other reasons for censorship, including the material containing or being: anti-ethnic, cultural sensitivity, racism, sexism, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, other offensive items, abortion, drug/alcohol/smoking, gambling, gangs, violence, suicide, homosexuality, sexually explicit, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, occult/Satanism, unsuited for age group, inaccurate, technical errors, and other objections. According to People for the American Way, "sexually explicit" material was the most frequent cause of book challenges in the decade from 1990 to 2000, while "offensive language" was responsible for the second-most number.

Social

Numerous books have been suppressed "because of language, racial characterization, or depiction of drug use, social class, or sexual orientation of the characters, or other social differences that the challengers viewed as harmful to the readers." There are many examples of books being suppressed on social grounds in the United States. Dawn Sova authored ''Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds'', an essay that lists books that have been banned or challenged on the preceding grounds to raise awareness of why books are censored. A few examples of this type of censorship are J. D. Salinger's ''

The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angs ...

'',

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

's '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', and Mark Twain's ''

''. All of these stories have main characters who disrespect authority and don't live according to societal norms and social rules.

Holden Caulfield Holden Caulfield (identified as "Holden Morrisey Caulfield" in the story "Slight Rebellion Off Madison" , and "Holden V. Caulfield" in ''The Catcher In The Rye'') is a fictional character in the works of author J. D. Salinger. He's most famous ...

Randle McMurphy Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy (also known as R.P. McMurphy) is the protagonist of Ken Kesey's novel '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1962). He appears in the stage and film adaptations of the novel as well. Jack Nicholson portrayed Randle P ...

, and Huck Finn are similar in their use of vulgar language and anti-traditionalist world views. All of these books have themes of characters who are idolized for breaking the rules and living life that is full of pleasures instead of listening and adhering to traditional order. Sova suggests that censors have sought to ban these books because they fear that the rebellious nature of the characters will lead children to follow them, meaning they will have no respect for their parents, the law or teachers. ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) by Mark Twain was listed by the American Library Association as the 5th most commonly banned book in the U.S. due to

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

in 2007.

NewSouth Books NewSouth Books is an independent publishing house founded in 2000 in Montgomery, Alabama, by editor H. Randall Williams and publisher Suzanne La Rosa. Williams was the founder of Black Belt Press, working there from 1986 to 1999, and La Rosa wo ...

received media attention for publishing an expurgated edition of the work that censored the words ''

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

'' and '' Injun''. A parent in a school district in Arizona attempted to have the novel banned in a case that reached the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

in the case ''Monteiro v. The Tempe Union High School District'' (1998). In August 1939, the Board of Supervisors of

Kern County, California Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county s ...

passed a resolution to ban ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...

'' from county libraries and schools. The head librarian of the Kern County Free Library, Gretchen Knief, despite personally protesting to the supervisors, complied with the ban. The ban is said to have been largely a product of the county's reliance upon agriculture, and Knief's compliance, along with a lack of official support from librarians. The ban was rescinded in 1941. In September 2020, the Burbank Unified School District in California removed from required reading ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

'', ''

Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job o ...

'', '' The Cay'', and '' Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'' from middle school and high school curriculum after parents showed concerns over racism.

Political

The State Department, the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and the

Federal Bureau of Narcotics The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930, consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board a ...

sought to suppress an academic work about the influence of the China lobby in

congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

and the executive branch of the US Government, and about heroin trafficking by the

Chinese Nationalist Party The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

, then the ruling party of the military dictatorship in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The suppression was instigated by the Chinese Nationalist Party through their embassy, after they initially threatened a libel suit against the publisher, MacMillan. Books have been suppressed for their political content by local governments and school districts. In particular books that some perceive to promote anarchism,

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

have a history of being suppressed in the United States. ''

The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Commu ...

'' by

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Red Scare in the 1950s. George Orwell's ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...

'' was challenged in

Jackson County, Florida Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, on its northwestern border with Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,319. Its county seat is Marianna. History Jackson County was created by the Florida Terri ...

in 1981 because it was deemed "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter." In 1980,

Irwin Schiff Irwin Allen Schiff (; February 23, 1928 – October 16, 2015) was an American libertarian and tax resistance advocate known for writing and promoting literature in which he argued that the income tax in the United States is illegal and unconstitu ...

published the ''Federal Mafia'' which was found to be fraudulent by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sexual

Reviews for

's '' The "Genius"'' (1915) were mixed at best. ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'', like many Midwestern dailies, labeled the novel "a procession of sordid philandering," while the ''

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' derided Dreiser as a "literary Caliban," wallowing in depravity. Many libraries and bookstores refused to stock the book, and the

New York Society for the Suppression of Vice The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV or SSV) was an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public, founded in 1873. Its specific mission was to monitor compliance with state laws and work with the courts and di ...

threatened legal action, leading Dreiser's supporters to issue their own call to arms. Critic Willard Huntington Wright, former editor of the '' Los Angeles Times Book Review'' and ''

The Smart Set ''The Smart Set'' was an American literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Mencken and ...

'' and a Dreiser admirer of long standing, threw himself "wholeheartedly into an anti-censorship campaign on behalf of he novel Along with Alfred Knopf,

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

, ublisher BenHuebsch, and H.L. Mencken, ecirculated petitions and drummed up support wherever he could for the man he believed to be the most significant, unjustly harassed writer of the day." Eventually, five hundred writers signed an Authors' League petition on behalf of ''The "Genius",'' including

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...

Max Eastman Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy and society, a poet and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radical ...

, Robert Frost,

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...

, Jack Reed,

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robin ...

Ida Tarbell Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857January 6, 1944) was an American writer, investigative journalist, biographer and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and pione ...

, and

Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels '' The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitz ...

. The foreword to the 1923 reissue of the novel addressed the censorship issue directly: "It has been urged that this book is detrimental to the morals of the young and might have had a bad effect upon people with weak moral sense, but are thousands of perfectly normal and responsible people to be denied this form of aesthetic stimulation simply because it is harmful to children and perverts?" Copies of the literary journal ''

The Little Review ''The Little Review'', an American literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound, Anderson created a m ...

'' containing episodes from

's novel '' Ulysses'' were seized by the United States Postal Service under the

Comstock law The Comstock laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws.Dennett p.9 The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the Suppression o ...

. ''Ulysses'' was suppressed in 1921 for obscenity, because of a scene that involved masturbation, first published in ''The Little Review''. ''Ulysses'' was then the subject of a court challenge in 1933, '' United States v. One Book Called Ulysses''. Judge John M. Woolsey's ruling that the book was not obscene marked a change in how the courts viewed obscenities in novels.

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

's novel ''

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted tow ...

'' has been described as "notorious for its candid sexuality" and as responsible for the "free speech that we now take for granted in literature". It was first published in 1934 by the

Obelisk Press Obelisk Press was an English-language press based in Paris, founded by British publisher Jack Kahane in 1929. Manchester-born novelist Kahane began the Obelisk Press after his publisher, Grant Richards, went bankrupt. Going into partnership with ...

in Paris, France, but this edition was banned in the United States. Its publication in 1961 in the U.S. by Grove Press led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography in the early 1960s. In 1964, the Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene. It is regarded as an important work of 20th-century literature. The children's book ''

And Tango Makes Three ''And Tango Makes Three'' is a children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole which was published in 2005. The book tells the story of two male penguins, Roy and Silo, who create a family together. Wit ...

'' has been one of the most challenged books in the 21st century due to the plot, which focuses on two homosexual penguins in the Central Park Zoo. Tango is one of several books that have been censored because of homosexual themes. In 2003, the children's book '' The Family Book'' was removed from the curriculum of the

Erie, Illinois Erie is a village in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,602 at the 2010 census, up from 1,589 in 2000. It is known for its unusual layout, specifically its "town triangle". History Erie is named after Erie County, ...

school system due to the book's representation of same-sex families. ''

Flowers for Algernon ''Flowers for Algernon'' is a short story by American author Daniel Keyes, later expanded by him into a novel and subsequently adapted for film and other media. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of '' ...

'', a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by

Daniel Keyes Daniel Keyes (August 9, 1927 – June 15, 2014) was an American writer who wrote the novel ''Flowers for Algernon''. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000. Biography Early life ...

, is on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 at number 43.The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999
-ALA.org The reasons for the challenges vary, but usually center on those parts of the novel in which Charlie struggles to understand and express his sexual desires. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been removed from school libraries, including some in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It won the

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction o ...

in 1960. The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; a ...

(with ''

Babel-17 ''Babel-17'' is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany in which the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (that language influences thought and perception) plays an important part. It was joint winner of the Nebula Award for Best Nov ...

'').

Religious

In the United States, books have also been challenged for attacking or disagreeing with religious beliefs. ''

'' by

has been challenged and suppressed since its publication in 1859 due to its theories on

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, though not until 1925 in the US, when the

Butler Act The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of mankind's origin. The law also prevented the teaching of the evolution of man from what it referred to as lower orders of animals ...

was enacted in Tennessee, banning the teaching of evolutionary theories statewide. Works, such as the Harry Potter series, have also been challenged because they are perceived by some to promote witchcraft and the occult.

Security

Operation Dark Heart __NOTOC__ ''Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory'' is a 2010 memoir by retired United States Army Reserve intelligence officer Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer. The book details Shaffer' ...

'', a 2010 memoir by U.S. Army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer, was the subject of attempts by the Defense Department to censor information that the book revealed, even after it had already been distributed free of changes. Both censored and original copies of the book are in the public domain.

Parenting

As an author,

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including '' The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is ...

said: "Text is meaningless without context. What usually happens with ''

Looking for Alaska ''Looking for Alaska'' is American author John Green‘s debut novel, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. Based on his time at Indian Springs School, Green wrote the novel as a result of his desire to create meaningful young adult fiction ...

'' is that a parent chooses one page of the novel to send to an administrator and then the book gets banned without anyone who objects to it having read more than that one particular page."

Examples of "banned" books

''Brave New World''

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

's dystopian novel, ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hiera ...

'' (1931), was challenged in some school districts. In 2003, in the South Texas Independent School District,

Mercedes, Texas Mercedes is a U.S. city in Hidalgo County, Texas. The population was 15,570 at the 2010 census. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. Geography Mercedes is located in southeastern Hidalgo Cou ...

it "was challenged but retained". Parents had "objected to the adult themes—sexuality, drugs, suicide—that appeared in the novel. Huxley's book was part of the summer Science Academy curriculum. The board voted to give parents more control over their children's choices by requiring principals to automatically offer an alternative to a challenged book."

''Of Mice and Men''

John Steinbeck's ''

'', first published in 1937, is considered an American classic and listed as the 12th best novel of the 20th century by the Radcliffe Publishing Course. It has remained a frequent choice for teaching in English curriculums because of its simplistic nature, but profound message. Nevertheless, the novel appeared on the ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Herbert N. Foerstel Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

, the author of ''Banned in the U.S.A.'', a novel documenting the cases of censorship in the United States, states that "the censors claim to be protecting the young and impressionable from this tragic tale of crude heroes speaking vulgar language within a setting that implies criticism of our social system." The main reasons for censorship, as observed by the Office of Intellectual Freedom, are "offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group, violence". A case against the novella began in

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

in 2004 when a group of parents and community members in the school district proposed a set of books that could be read instead of Steinbeck's novel that addressed the same themes as ''Of Mice and Men'', but did not have the racial slurs that the group objected to. The group also suggested that the book should be removed from the permanent, required reading list for a sophomore English curriculum, however, they did not ask that the book be banned. The group appreciated that the novel addressed injustices of the past, but believed the alternative books that they proposed "address multicultural and socially sensitive issues in a meaningful, respectful manner", whereas Steinbeck's novel does not.

''To Kill a Mockingbird''

'' (1960), by Harper Lee, won the Pulitzer Prize and has since been considered an American classic. The novel confronts issues of rape and racial inequality, but is highly regarded for its universal themes that can appeal to many readers. The novel has been censored since its 1960 publication and appeared on the ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books in 2009 and 2011. The novel was considered objectionable because it deals with racial injustice, class systems, gender roles, loss of innocence while discussing violence, rape, incest and authority, while using strong language. In July 1996, the Superintendent of the Moss Point School District in Mississippi announced ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' would be reviewed by a group of parents, community members and teachers after a complaint came from Reverend Greg Foster about the novel's racial descriptions and discussion of sexual activity. The novel was ultimately banned from being accessed in the school district. Another case began with a resident in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 2008, who objected to having ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' as part of a high school English curriculum. The challenger had problems with how African Americans were treated in the novel and feared that the descriptions may upset black students who were reading the novel. Instead of banning the book, the school board voted unanimously to keep the book in the curriculum and instead responded to fears of upsetting black students with racial sensitivity training for teachers who used the novel in their classrooms.

''The China Lobby in American Politics''

In 1960, ''The China Lobby in American Politics'', by scholar Ross Y. Koen, was suppressed by the State Department, the

and the

at the behest of the ruling

. The book largely concerned the influence of the China lobby in the US congress and the executive branch of the government. It also discussed the heroin trafficking by the Chinese Nationalist Party – then the ruling party of the military dictatorship in

. Koen detailed considerable evidence of this, and it was later corroborated by other scholars. The Chinese Nationalist Party instigated the suppression through their embassy in Washington, after they had initially threatened a libel suit against the publisher, MacMillan. After 4000 copies of the book had been printed, at the intervention of the State Department the publisher recalled the book and discontinued publication. Some copies of the book nevertheless found their way into rare book repositories at some universities. According to Richard C. Kagan, right-wing groups stole many remaining copies of the book from libraries. The book was reprinted in 1974 after other scholars had shown Koen's findings to be accurate.

''The Catcher in the Rye''

'', by

J.D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in ''S ...

, was first published in 1951 and has since been both frequently challenged and taught. In the 1980s, it "had the unusual distinction of being the nation's most frequently censored book, and, at the same time, the second most frequently taught novel in the public schools." The American Library Association deemed it the most censored book from 1966 to 1975 and the tenth most challenged book from 1990 to 1999. The novel also appears as the second best and most classic novel of the 20th century based on a list developed by the Radcliffe Publishing Course. The majority of the objections have been over the novel's language, but the book also has mentions of prostitution, sexuality and underage drinking, as cited by the book review published by the organization Focus on the Family, an American, conservative group. The ALA cites the reasons for censorship as "offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group". The first case of censorship the book ever witnessed was in 1960 when it was banned in a

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

school district and the eleventh grade teacher who had assigned the book was fired because of the questionable content of the book. A case in Paris, Maine in 1996 allowed for ''The Catcher in the Rye'' to continue being taught at the district high school, but mandated practices that would tell parents what books their children read, ultimately leaving it in the hands of parents to decide what their children should read, rather than the school.

The ''Harry Potter'' series

The seven-novel series featuring '' Harry Potter'' by

J.K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

has been on best-seller lists since the first book was published in 1997. The series was most frequently challenged in 2001 and 2002, before falling to second-most challenged book in 2003. The ALA cites the reasons for censorship as "anti-family, occult/Satanism, religious viewpoint, violence", but the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

of Texas's "Free People Read Freely" report also cited concerns over sexual content. In one case in

Lawrenceville, Georgia Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is a suburb of Atlanta, located approximately northeast of downtown. As of the 2020 census, the population of Lawrenceville was 30,629. In 2019, the ...

in 2007, a parent asked that the ''Harry Potter'' books be kept out of classrooms, suggesting that the novels promote the practice of witchcraft and contain violent content that is not suitable for her 15-year-old daughter to read as she was becoming inspired to try witchcraft in the manner of the series' characters. School board attorney, Victoria Sweeney, presented evidence for why the novels should be kept in the classroom, noting that they encourage children's fascination with reading and explore themes such as good triumphing over evil. The board ultimately unanimously decided to keep the books in the classroom since they had the potential to spark creativity and imagination, as well as a love for learning and reading.

''Fun Home''

In October 2006, a resident of

Marshall, Missouri Marshall is a city in Saline County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,065 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Saline County. The Marshall Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Saline County. It is home to Missouri Val ...

attempted to have the graphic novel ''

Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 Graphic novel, graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, Uni ...

'' by

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...

removed from the Marshall Public Library. The book addresses themes of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s, suicide, emotional abuse,

dysfunctional family A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such ...

life, and the role of

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

in understanding oneself and one's family. These challenges are significant because the fact that they are filled with illustrations make them more likely to be accessible to younger children, and therefore, more susceptible to challenges when the content is considered mature for the audience.

''George''

In 2018, 2019, and 2020,

Alex Gino Alex Gino is an American children's book writer. Gino's debut book, ''George'', was the winner of the 2016 Stonewall Book AwardALAnews. (January 12, 2016"2016 Stonewall Book Awards Announced."/ref> as well as the 2016 Lambda Literary Award in th ...

's book, ''

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

'', was reported as the most challenged book in public education according to the American Library Association's annual top ten challenged books. The book was challenged for its "

LGBTQIA+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

content," yet censorers provided other stated reasons for challenging the novel, for instance "for conflicting with a religious viewpoint and “traditional family structure” and potentially "creating confusion."

''The Hate U Give''

Angie Thomas Angie Thomas (born September 20, 1988) is an American young adult author, best known for writing '' The Hate U Give'' (2017). Her second young adult novel, ''On the Come Up'', was released on February 25, 2019. Early life Angie Thomas was born ...

's '' The Hate U Give'' tells the story of a black teen who witnesses her childhood friend get shot by the police. In 2017, the book was ranked number 8 on the American Library Association’s top ten challenge and banned books list. The book was also banned by school officials in Katy, Texas. It was challenged for its “pervasive vulgarity and racially-insensitive language. The book was also challenged for depicting drug use, profanity, and offensive language.

''The Hunger Games'' trilogy

Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer. She is known as the author of the book series '' The Underland Chronicles'' and ''The Hunger Games''. Early life Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962, i ...

's ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 6 ...

'' is a young adult Dystopian Novel that tells the story from the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year-old living under a strict dictatorship in a post-apocalyptic world. The series emphasizes rebellion and uprising, government control, corrupt political power, and the breakdown of different districts represents the not-so-equal distribution of wealth. The book also includes themes of violence, poverty and love which can also be challenged. In 2014, the book was banned for the insertion of religious perspective. The series ended up being banned and/or challenged throughout the years for reasons that include, but are not limited to: insensitivity, offensive language, violence, anti-family, anti-ethic, and occult/satanic. One parent in New Hampshire, stated that the series had given her 11-year old nightmares. She also stated that it could numb children to violence.

Organizations opposing book censorship

Established in 1876, the

is the oldest and largest library association in the world "to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." The American Library Association's website has observed that the top three reasons for book censorship in the United States are that: the material was considered to be "sexually explicit", the content contained "offensive language", or the book was "unsuited to any age group." The

focuses more on the legal issues regarding book censorship. One of their main objectives is "to supply legal counsel, which counsel may or may not be directly employed by the Foundation, and otherwise to provide support to such libraries and librarians as are suffering legal injustices." Founded on November 20, 1969, the association made its first

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

appeal in ''Kaplan v. California''. The case involved an "adult" bookstore owner who was convicted of "violating a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

obscenity statute by selling a plain-covered unillustrated book containing repetitively descriptive material of an explicitly sexual nature." The Freedom to Read Foundation brought the case before the Supreme Court and filed "a motion asking the Court to consider an amicus brief addressing constitutional questions posed by the new three-prong test for obscenity in '' Miller v. California''." The motion was ultimately denied as the Court ruled that First Amendment rights only applied to "serious literature or political works".

Banned Books Week

On ALA's website there is a section of "Banned & Challenged Books" and they release most banned and challenged books every year; however, they also organize Banned Books Week, "an annual event celebrating the freedom to read." usually taking place during the last week of September. Banned Books Week is the product of a national alliance between organizations who strive to bring awareness to banned books. Founded by first amendment and library activist Judy Krug and the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

in 1982 with the goal of bringing banned books "to the attention of the American public". By the year 2000, the intention of this event expanded to "bring ngtogether the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." The coalition that now sponsors the week each year consists of American Library Association (ALA), the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE),

American Society of Journalists and Authors The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is the professional association of independent nonfiction writers in the United States. History The organization was established in ...

, and has support from the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Now the goal of Banned Book Week is not only to invite students and other readers to look at censored or challenged books, but also advocates for literary freedom in schools, libraries, and all places involving books. Its most current goal is "to teach the importance of our first Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed availability of information in a free society". Banned book week has expanded from just books to addressing the filtering any academic material by schools. This includes software that removes services such as

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, social media, and games. The American Association of School Librarians stance on all filtering is that it is important for students to go past "the requirements set for by the Federal Communications Commission in its Child Internet Protection Act". However, while the week receives a positive reception, that does not mean it is without criticism. Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, claims that "the ALA has irresponsibly perpetrated the 'banned' books lie for too long" and that "nothing is 'banned'" and Ruth Graham from '' Slate'' magazine agrees. She thinks that celebrating book banning week conflates issues of book censorship in a public library versus a school library, where actual cases of censorship are rather minimal. Groups who generally challenge numerous books, such as Focus on the Family, often stand opposed to Banned Book Week, but that doesn’t mean everyone is. Maddie Crum, a writer for the '' Huffington Post'', argues in defense of the week, stating that the week helps to keep people aware of the fact that Americans’ right of free expression is often limited and in many cases not easily won.

Voices of banned authors

John Green

American author

's novel ''

'' has been challenged due to "offensive language" and "sexually explicit descriptions". Defending his work, Green says that the novel "is arguing really in a rather pointed way that emotionally intimate kissing can be a whole lot more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex." The ALA protects him, stating that "challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice."

David Guterson

David Guterson's first novel ''

Snow Falling on Cedars ''Snow Falling on Cedars'' is a 1994 novel by David Guterson. Guterson, a teacher, wrote the book in the early morning hours over ten years then quit his job to write full-time. Plot Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the Strait of Jua ...

'' was listed as one of the most banned books, having been compared to pornography and described as sexually inappropriate. When he was writing his second novel, Guterson said it was "always hard to write another book" and that he was "deathly afraid" of having his books banned.

Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds cowrote two of the young adult novels—''

All American Boys ''All American Boys'', published in 2015 by Atheneum, is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The book tells the story of two teenage boys, Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins, as they handle racism and police brutalit ...

'' and '' Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You''—included on the 2020 and 2019 ALA's top ten challenged books annual list. He responded to these censors in an NPR interview, saying "It's painful to me because what I know is that when these books are banned, there are going to be thousands and thousands of young people who will not get these books."

List of other banned books

The American Library Association, specifically the Office of Intellectual Freedom, has maintained a list of books, since 1990, that have been banned or censored in the United States. This is an incomplete list of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that have been challenged or censored in the United States. (Se
List of Banned & challenged books
at the American Library Association and/or the

List of most commonly challenged books in the United States This list of the most commonly challenged books in the United States refers to books sought to be removed or otherwise restricted from public access, typically from a library or a school curriculum. This list is primarily based on U.S. data gather ...

Wikipedia page)

References

{{North America topic , Book censorship in Censorship in the United States

History

School boards

Reasons for censorship

Social

Political

Sexual

Religious

Security

Parenting

Examples of "banned" books

''Brave New World''

''Of Mice and Men''

''To Kill a Mockingbird''

''The China Lobby in American Politics''

''The Catcher in the Rye''

The ''Harry Potter'' series

''Fun Home''

''George''

''The Hate U Give''

''The Hunger Games'' trilogy

Organizations opposing book censorship

Banned Books Week

Voices of banned authors

John Green

David Guterson

Jason Reynolds

List of other banned books

See also

References