Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read 10-8-25

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Read Banned Books

Animal Farm

George Orwell

George Orwell has the distinction of having two great books on this list. And yes, I read this one in HS.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned-a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible. When Animal Farm was first published fifty years ago, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece has meaning and message still ferociously fresh.

Animal Farm has been banned or challenged globally for various reasons, including its critique of communist regimes in places like the Soviet Union and Cuba, and its perceived promotion of mass revolt and communist politics in the U.S. during the Cold War. In some Islamic countries, like the United Arab Emirates, it was banned for containing imagery, such as pigs and alcohol, that conflicts with Islamic values.