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Bookbanning in America: Who Bans Books? - And Why
Discusses the banning of books throughout history and how it affects all levels of our society, from politics and religion to education and publishing
- GenresNonfiction
349 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 8, 2018
Edit: forgot to add bookdarted passages... see below.
Thorough but superficial... but of course it's a huge subject, and each chapter could be a book itself. A bit dated, but still relevant.
Explores history as well as more contemporary efforts. Explores self-censorship, censorship, bowdlerizing, banning, restricting, and burning. Explores different reasons for challenging books for different audiences. Uses lots of words from challengers as well as from defenders, respecting (for example) those conservative parents who are truly concerned about the requirement to read *As I Lay Dying* and (for another example) refugees from the Dust Bowl who did not appreciate the way 'Okies' were depicted in *The Grapes of Wrath.*
One thing I wish it had explored more was the problem that those of us who defend banned books still do discourage children being taught views that we disagree with. It seems to me, even though I'm a queer feminist atheist, that sometimes the pendulum swings a bit too far, and, for example, no mention is made in a high school history text of the Christian beliefs that drove a significant of the settlers of the American West, though plenty of mention is made of other beliefs. (The chapter "The Newest Bookbanners" came close, but wasn't about exactly what I'm curious about.)
And I wish more people in general would distinguish between banned books and books either restricted for age-appropriateness or just not pushed on students. I mean, could not *As I Lay Dying* be one of the list of side reads for the class, instead of a mandatory text? And it's certainly not a book that's going to be in the Elementary school library.
Complex issues. This book a fascinating and very readable introduction/ summary of many of them.
Gene Lanier says "A book is easier to burn than to explain."
"The essence of the dispute between the bookbanner and the civil libertarian" is that of emotion vs. reason. "The more determined the civil libertarian is to be rational, the more the opposite reaction will take place in the bookbanner." At the root, many here say, is fear. Understand that both sides know the power of words, but seek to understand the bookbanner's underlying motives.
(I'm not convinced it's always fear, nor that it's always illogical emotion at all... and I am sure that civil libertarians are emotional, often even fearful, at heart, too.... More complex than that quote admits, but still an interesting and potentially useful framework for the debate.)
Louisa May Alcott on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: "If Mr. Clemens cannot think of something better to tell our pure-minded lads and lasses, he had best stop writing for them."
Thorough but superficial... but of course it's a huge subject, and each chapter could be a book itself. A bit dated, but still relevant.
Explores history as well as more contemporary efforts. Explores self-censorship, censorship, bowdlerizing, banning, restricting, and burning. Explores different reasons for challenging books for different audiences. Uses lots of words from challengers as well as from defenders, respecting (for example) those conservative parents who are truly concerned about the requirement to read *As I Lay Dying* and (for another example) refugees from the Dust Bowl who did not appreciate the way 'Okies' were depicted in *The Grapes of Wrath.*
One thing I wish it had explored more was the problem that those of us who defend banned books still do discourage children being taught views that we disagree with. It seems to me, even though I'm a queer feminist atheist, that sometimes the pendulum swings a bit too far, and, for example, no mention is made in a high school history text of the Christian beliefs that drove a significant of the settlers of the American West, though plenty of mention is made of other beliefs. (The chapter "The Newest Bookbanners" came close, but wasn't about exactly what I'm curious about.)
And I wish more people in general would distinguish between banned books and books either restricted for age-appropriateness or just not pushed on students. I mean, could not *As I Lay Dying* be one of the list of side reads for the class, instead of a mandatory text? And it's certainly not a book that's going to be in the Elementary school library.
Complex issues. This book a fascinating and very readable introduction/ summary of many of them.
Gene Lanier says "A book is easier to burn than to explain."
"The essence of the dispute between the bookbanner and the civil libertarian" is that of emotion vs. reason. "The more determined the civil libertarian is to be rational, the more the opposite reaction will take place in the bookbanner." At the root, many here say, is fear. Understand that both sides know the power of words, but seek to understand the bookbanner's underlying motives.
(I'm not convinced it's always fear, nor that it's always illogical emotion at all... and I am sure that civil libertarians are emotional, often even fearful, at heart, too.... More complex than that quote admits, but still an interesting and potentially useful framework for the debate.)
Louisa May Alcott on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: "If Mr. Clemens cannot think of something better to tell our pure-minded lads and lasses, he had best stop writing for them."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews