Banned in the USA: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools And Public Libraries

by Herbert N. Foerstel

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[library fairy]

Read this for grad school, unfortunately very relevant today even though this was published in 2002

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative book. I was a little annoyed with the author's obvious liberal bias in presenting the material. There are some very important points.
1) Challenges that were successful
2) How to fight challenges
3) Relevance for Academic Libraries
4) Why education in America continues to decline - the increased use of texts that are so stagnant that no one can object to the content
5) Committees established to evaluate challenged books are almost never supported by administrators.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book to identify why certain books are banned. I didn't know that Judy Blume was one of the most banned authors. Incredible interesting.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some incidents of banning, 'voices' of banned authors and a select list of most banned books.