The next night I stood at the front of a university classroom and propped the books I had collected on a table in front of me. As the forty or so students filed in I encouraged them to flip through the pages. I began the class by asking them to guess which of the titles had been challenged, or banned entirely, from school or public libraries. I saw humor and then confusion and anger pass over students’ faces as I held up the books one by one and said, “This one too.” Every book on the table was one that had been challenged. One incredulous student called out, “Why would people care about
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