Everyone Doesn’t Want You to Read Something

— Burned / Banned / Censored / Challenged —

by

Kat Warren 

It’s rare today in the U.S. that a book actually is banned out of hand since it takes a government to do that. Nevertheless it’s all too common for books in public and school libraries to be “challenged” which is the polite way to refer to today’s routine practice of book banning. In the main, these efforts are instigated by our neighbors in aid of right-wing, religious, liberal and left notions as well as no fixed notions at all apart, of course, from what is right and proper. What the titles have in common is this: someone out there doesn’t want you or your kids to read them. They’re bad and will undermine the very fabric of our entire society.

Catcher in the Rye bears the burden of the “F” word which is a sure and certain no-no for some. Lord of the Flies is thought to be too violent and is condemned by a round robin of those who would protect us from the worst of us but likely would never agree on any other issue.

Judy Blume, a renown prize-winning writer of young adult fiction, is regularly banished from the shelves of public and school libraries because she dares to depict the same world in which her readers live. Toni Morrison, even though she writes for adults, often shares that ignominy with Blume. Reality, for some, is verboten.

There are those who believe the word “nigger” never must appear in print, not even in Huck Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird or in the poetry of Langston Hughes. Some want to take Uncle Tom’s Cabin off the shelves because said uncle apparently is a poor role model who embodies capitulation to the white establishment.

But, by any measure, this is my favorite banned-book story: D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was thought to be a great insult to the British public. Its publication was debated in the House of Lords in 1928. One argument for banning the book was made an elderly earl from an ancient estate who, when asked “Would the noble lord wish to see such a book in the hands of his daughter?” replied, “That would not perturb me in the least; though I must say I should be dismayed to find it in the hands of my gamekeeper.”

Ah, but surely times have changed since 1928, right? Not so much. Lady Chatterley’s Lover was challenged in the U.S. as recently as 1982. The titles listed here have suffered similarly of late:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, challenged in 1987
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 1982
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, 2001
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, 1999
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 2004
Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1998
Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 2000
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 2003
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 2000

Meanwhile, whatever you do, don’t say yes! James Joyce’s Ulysses is a historically banned title on both sides of the Atlantic. The American Library Association urges us to commemorate Banned Books Week from September 29 to October 6, 2007.


Kat Warren is a corporate librarian in Northern California who lives with a fuchsia hybridist, their two elderly cats and too many books to count. Her preferred exercise workout is turning the pages of a good tome whilst guzzling champagne. She loves Bach (particularly the unaccompanied cello suites), beaches, books and a good bacchanal now and again. To contact her, send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and it will be forwarded to her.