Banned Books Week: Are there books that should be banned?

A recent column in the Christian Science Monitor, "5 books almost anyone might want to burn," sparked a storm of responses when it suggested there are certain books that ought to be destroyed. "What about books that take on some seriously taboo topics, like Holocaust denial, terrorism, sadism, or pedophilia?" the writer, Husna Haq, suggested, providing a short list of books that "strangely, have never been banned." Hitler and Osama bin Laden are represented -- as well as the Marquis de Sade.

The result was an emphatic "no" from readers. In a subsequent article Haq took a step back and considers that no matter how repugnant the contents may be, the act of banning a book is dangerous indeed, writing further that those who attempt to ban books, especially on political grounds, are often trying to revise history or control the thoughts and collective psyche of society.

With that said the article considers the fate of writers whose works have been banned for political or unpopular reasons, and who have been jailed, abducted, or even killed for their work. On this last day of Banned Books Week 2010 readers should remember that the idea of censorship is a continuing struggle worldwide.

Here is an excerpt of Haq's article published in the Christian Science Monitor of October 1, titled "Let's not forget the writers."

Banned Books Week tends to focus on books rather than their authors. And many of the spotlighted books were published decades and centuries ago, putting their authors out of harm’s way. ...

This year celebrate Banned Books Week by doing more than reading banned books from decades past. Instead, try learning about contemporary writers and journalists whose governments have banned their works – and often imprisoned or tortured them – in an attempt to control the thoughts of the citizens by controlling what they can read.

They may be the Orwells and Paines of tomorrow.

(Above: Eynulla Fatullayev. Below: Prageeth Eknaligoda)

Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev wrote a series of articles critical of his government. One discussed consequences for Azerbaijan of a US-Iranian war, which Azerbaijani authorities perceived as a threat of terrorism, according to Amnesty. Mr. Fatullayev was sentenced to 8-1/2 years in prison. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that his conviction violated rights to free expression, that he had been unfairly tried, and that there was “no justification for the imposition of a prison sentence.”

Uighur poet Nurmuhemmet Yasin is serving a 10-year prison sentence for writing an allegorical short story that Chinese authorities consider a condemnation of their rule in the Xingiant Uighur Autonomous Region.

Like many before her, Iranian journalist Hengameh Shahidi is serving a six-year sentence in Evin prison, Tehran, for articles she has written deemed critical by the regime.

Journalist and human rights defender Chekib el-Khiari is serving a three-year sentence in Morocco’s Taza prison for his writings.

Sri Lankan journalist, cartoonist, and political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared soon after he left work at the Lanka-e-News office Jan. 24, 2010. His family suspects he was abducted by the government for his criticism of President Rajapaksa.

Banned Books Week: One best-selling author's battle with censorship

Ellen Hopkins is the New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, and Fallout. Her novels are praised by teens and adults, as she has said, because her readers tell her "that my books don't feel like fiction, and that my characters feel like friends."

She recently wrote at The Huffington Post about her experience with parents and schools that find her books and their subject matter too adult for young readers. This has resulted in cancellations, school bans, and "dis-invitations," as Hopkins refers to the awkward process of rescinding appearances before school groups, made sometimes by representatives who have not actually read her books.

Earlier this year she created an anti-censorship poem, "Manifesto." Her publisher, Simon and Schuster, supports Hopkins's efforts to confront censorship and prominently features a link to the poem on her author page. Here's an excerpt from her article at The Huffington Post. "Manifesto" can be read there as well.

Some call my books edgy; others say they're dark. They do explore tough subject matter -- addiction, abuse, thoughts of suicide, teen prostitution. But they bring young adult readers a middle-aged author's broader perspective. They show outcomes to choices, offer understanding. And each is infused with hope. I don't sugarcoat, but neither is the content gratuitous. Something would-be censors could only know if they'd actually read the books rather than skimming for dirty words or sexual content.

My first dis-invitation was last year in Norman, Oklahoma. I had donated a school visit to a charity auction. The winning bid came from a middle school librarian, who was excited to have me talk to her students about poetry, writing process and reaching for their dreams. Except, two days before the visit, a parent challenged one of my books for "inappropriate content." She demanded it be pulled from all middle school libraries in the district. And also that no student should hear me speak.

The superintendent, who hadn't read my books, agreed, prohibiting me from speaking to any school in the district. The librarian scrambled and I spoke community-wide at the nearby Hillsdale Baptist Freewill College. (The challenged book, by the way, was later replaced in the middle school libraries.) The timing was exceptional, if unintentional. It was Banned Books Week 2009, and my publisher, Simon & Schuster, had recently created a broadside of a poem I'd written for the occasion. My "Manifesto" was currently

being featured in bookstores and libraries across the country.

Segue to August 2010. Simon & Schuster repackaged "Manifesto" just about the time another dis-invitation took place. Humble, Texas is a suburb of Houston, and every other year the Humble Independent School District organizes a teen literature festival. I was invited to headline the January 2011 event. The term "invitation" would later be debated, as no formal contract was signed. But through a series of email exchanges, the invitation was extended, I agreed, we settled on an honorarium, and I blocked out the date on my calendar (thus turning down other invitations).

This time it was a middle school librarian who initiated the dis-invitation. Apparently concerned about my being in the vicinity of her students, she got a couple of parents riled and they approached two members of the school board. Again, no one read my books. Rather, according to the superintendent, he relied on his head librarian's research -- a website that rates content. He ordered my "removal" from the festival roster, despite several librarians rallying in my defense.

According to the National Coalition Against Censorship, removing an author from an event because someone disagrees with their ideas or content in their books meets the definition of censorship. And in protest, five of the seven other festival authors -- Pete Hautman, Melissa de la Cruz, Matt de la Pena, Tera Lynn Childs and Brian Meehl -- withdrew. Our books are all very different. But our voices are united against allowing one person, or a handful of people, to speak for an entire community. ...

Banned Books week: U.S. politics and censorship

In America politics and censorship have played a large role in determining what facts readers learn about events. Often government agencies claim issues of national security to keep sensitive and allegedly damaging information from being published, most recently as August 2010 in the case of Operation Dark Heart (see below). At one point the Defense Department threatened to buy up all copies of the book in order to prevent it from reaching bookstores; St. Martin's Press has agreed to a partial compromise -- but one that involves redacting (blacking out) classified text.

At the Banned Books site there is a long list of censored and banned titles, many of which were challenged by American government agencies. Writers using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain material have been questioned and refused access. Publishers have long fought such pre-publication censorship. In one case -- the Valerie Plame book -- the outed C.I.A. operative found a way around government censorship: she published the redacted text and amended an afterward by a second writer, who reveals the public record of all the redacted material.

"We believe attempts to censor ideas to which we have access--whether in books, magazines, plays, works of art, television, movies or song--are not simply isolated instances of harassment by diverse special-interest groups. Rather they are part of a growing pattern of increasing intolerance which is changing the fabric of America. . .Censorship cannot eliminate evil. It can only kill freedom. We believe Americns have the right to buy, stores have the right to sell, authors have the right to write and publishers have the right to publish Constitutionally-protected material. Period."

(Excerpt from a letter to 28 newspapers, signed by Ed Morrow, president, American Booksellers Assn. and Harry Hoffman, president, Walden Book Co., Inc., 1990).

Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House (2007) Written by Valerie Plame Wilson, who claims her cover was intentionally disclosed by the Bush administration. Portions of Fair Game are blacked-out and indicate, say the publishers, places where the CIA has demanded redactions. The extensive afterword by reporter Laura Rozen, drawn from interviews and the public record, is included to provide context to Plame Wilson's story.

Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago (1971) by Mike Royko. A Ridgefield, CT school board in 1972 banned this book from the high school reading list, claiming it "dowgrades police departments."

The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence (1974) by Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks. The CIA obtained a court injunction against this book's publication stating the author, a former CIA employee, violated his contract which states that he cannot write about the CIA without the agency's approval. First amendment activists opposed this ruling, "raising the question of whether a citizen can sign away his First Amendment rights." After prolonged litigation, the CIA succeeded in having 168 passages deleted.

Deadly Deceits (My 25 Years in the CIA) (1983) by Ralph McGheehee. The CIA delayed the publication of this book for three years, objecting to 397 passages, even though much of what the author wrote about was already public knowledge.

Freedom and Order (1966) by Henry Steele Commager. The U.S. Information Agency had this book banned from its overseas libraries because of its condemnation of American policies in Vietnam.

Operation Dark Heart (2010): On Friday, August 13, 2010, just as St. Martin’s Press was readying its initial shipment of Operation Dark Heart, the Department of Defense expressed concern that its publication could cause damage to U.S. national security. The publication of the initial edition was canceled. However, after consulting with the author, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, St. Martin's Press agreed to incorporate some of the government’s changes, which includes redacting classified text, into a revised edition.

Pentagon Papers (1971) Commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, this 3,000 page history of U.S. involvement in Indochina, was banned from publication by court order. The New York Times was printing portions of it when the order came down. Later that year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision and Bantam proceeded to publish a paperback edition.

Banned Books Week: The current Amnesty International list

The censorship issue is not limited to the United States, which by its Constitution grants its citizens the most freedom of expression in the world. Other countries around the world with restrictive or dictatorial régimes limit free expression as a way to control information and opinion of policies and politics.

During Banned Books Week, Amnesty International directs attention to the plight of individuals around the world who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read. Traditionally, Banned Books Week activities take place at the end of each September -- but the featured cases are not confined to a week, and continue to need action to fight censorship every day.

» Read updates on previous Banned Books Week cases

AZERBAIJAN
Eynulla Fatullayev
journalist harassed and imprisoned

After writing another series of articles critical of the government, including a discussion of possible consequences for Azerbaijan of a US-Iranian war, which the Azerbaijani authorities regarded as a threat of terrorism, Eynulla Fatullayev was sentenced (30 October 2007) to an additional eight and a half years' imprisonment on various charges lacking plausible evidence and considered to be politically motivated. In April 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Eynulla Fatullayev's conviction violated his rights to free expression, that he had been unfairly tried, and that there was "no justification for the imposition of a prison sentence".

CHINA
Nurmemet Yasin
writer in prison

Uighur poet and story writer Nurmemet Yasin is serving a 10-year prison sentence for writing an allegorical short story that the authorities consider to be a veiled indictment of their rule in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). He is a prisoner of conscience.

IRAN
Hengameh Shahidi
imprisoned journalist

Hengameh Shahidi, aged about 35, is a journalist and political activist who is currently serving a six-year sentence in Evin Prison, Tehran, while suffering from a heart condition that requires regular medication. She is a prisoner of conscience.

MOROCCO
Chekib El-Khiari
journalist jailed & fined

Journalist and human rights defender Chekib El-Khiari is serving a three-year sentence in Taza prison. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for his legitimate and peaceful human rights work.

RWANDA
Jean Leonard Rugambage
journalist killed

Rwandan journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage was killed on 24 June 2010. Authorities should establish an independent commission of inquiry into the killing and ensure that other journalists can work in safety. Over recent years, Rwandan journalists working for non-state media frequently have been threatened and physically assaulted.

SRI LANKA
Prageeth Eknaligoda
journalist & cartoonist disappeared

Journalist, cartoonist and political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared from Homagama, near the capital, Colombo, shortly after leaving work at the Lanka-e-News office on 24 January 2010.

Banned Books: "Howl on Trial"

"Howl" is the howl of the generation, the howl of black jackets, of James Dean, of hip beat angels, of mad saints, of cool Zen, the howl of the Withdrawn, of the crazy Sax-man, of the endless Vision whose visionary is Allen Ginsberg ... "Howl" is essentially a poem to be read aloud but only by the Howler ... any other Howler would screw it up, thus for those who are unable to hear Ginsberg read his "Howl" will have to settle for its visuality. And visuality it has, that is, if you're hip enough to visualize it. If you're a drag go read Wilbur or something.

(Gregory Corso, 1956)

It seems appropriate during Banned Books week that a new film has captured the frenzy surrounding "Howl," the ecstatically mad poem by Allen Ginsberg, and the obscenity trial which followed its publication. Corso's celebration of the poem's "visuality" was central to its meaning, and is what made the poem such a target for obscenity charges.

It's difficult now to comprehend what an impact the trial had on American culture. It's equally difficult to imagine contemporary culture without judge Clayton Horn's decision, or justice Potter Stewart's words: "In the free society to which the Constitution has committed us, it is for each to choose for himself."

Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression (City Lights, 2006, edited by Bill Morgan and Nancy Peters) is an especially timely read, collecting correspondence, reporting, magazine articles, and testimony excerpts surrounding the creation of the poem and the subsequent trial. There are some genuinely affecting early letters to friends (in one he addresses Kerouac as "Dear Almond Crackerjax"). Ginsberg was so uncertain of the trial's outcome that he spent most of the time out of the country, and as a result his letters to Ferlinghetti, Kerouac, Corso, and many others are a written record of the trial behind the scenes.

The initial public success with "Howl," Ginsberg found to his amazement, was astounding. It was a foreshadowing of the unwelcome publicity to come. To his father Louis he wrote:

"The reading (at the Six Gallery) was pretty great, we had traveling photographers, who appeared on the scene from Vancouver to photograph it, a couple of amateur electronics experts who appeared with tape machines to record, request from state college for a complete recording for the night, requests for copies of the recordings, even finally organizations of bop musicians who want to write music and give big west coast traveling tours of "Howl" as a sort of Jazz Mass, recorded for a west coast company called Fantasy Records that issues a lot of national bop, etc. No kidding. You have no idea what a storm of lunatic-fringe activity I have stirred up."

(Donlin, Cassady, Ginsberg, LaVigne, and Ferlinghetti outside City Lights, 1956)

Even amid the craziness Ginsberg unwittingly "stirred up," the letters show a sense of humor and self-awareness. In the resulting wake of controversy Ginsberg often used this deprecation as a defense and a tool as he endlessly explained himself, often to uncomprehending critics. But this was a humor and a point of view no less expected among his friends. Here he is concluding his letter to Kerouac, slipping out of seriousness in an unexpected burst of humor which also wound up in the finished poem:

"What Sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed in their skulls and ate their brains and imagination?

Moloch Moloch Solitude Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars!

Children screaming under stairways! Old men weeping in parks!

Moloch! Moloch! Skeleton treasuries! Ghostly banks! Eyeless capitols!

Robot apartments! Granite phalluses and monstrous bombs!

Visions! Omens! Hallucinations! Gone down the American River!

Dreams! Miracles! Ecstasies! The whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!" etc.

Love,

Allen

By de-fusing his critics he allowed the poem's readers to see the shock of truth in the words. Ginsberg spent the remainder of his life fighting battles for creative expression, and giving artists the freedom to say what they mean. It was the poet's way of affirming Justice Stewart:

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime. Long ago, those who wrote our First Amendment charted a different course. They believed a society can be truly strong only when it is truly free."

(1956 City Lights photo by Allen Ginsberg)

Banned Books: "Don't read this," by Anna Quindlen

Young or old, it's not easy reading banned books. There are traps for unsuspecting readers on every page: "inappropriate" language, "desensitizing" violence, "stimulating" stories. As Anna Quindlen comments, "And then there's Faulkner. Oy."

Quindlen wrote a witty column for Banned Books Week in 1994 in which she outlines a week's worth of reading censored books, and comes to a "wonderful end to a depressing week" -- she re-reads Bridge to Terabithia and finds it even better. Her final recommendation? Tell kids there are certain books not to be read, and then watch the reading scores soar. If only.

Monday: Begin Banned Books Week by reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, which parents in several school districts have tried to remove from required reading lists. Weep copiously at realistic tale of friendship and loss among children. ...

Discover that Terabithia caused such a stink in Oskaloosa, Kan., that the school board has required teachers to list each profanity in any book they assign and how many times the profanity is used. Page through book. Find a "damn" and write it down. Feel like a fool. "I hate to say it, but sometimes grown-ups are really stupid," says oldest child. ...

Tuesday: Read reams of material about the banning of In the Night Kitchen, fanciful account of dreams of little boy by Maurice Sendak. Boy falls out of clothes, is naked, has penis. Penis has been described as "desensitizing children to nudity" (Beloit, Wis.), "nudity for no purpose" (Norridge, Ill.) and "the foundation for future use of pornography" (Elk River, Minn.). In Missouri copies of book were distributed to kindergarten class after artist was commissioned to draw shorts on boy. ...

Wednesday: Contemplate bookshelves in office. Moby Dick encourages whale hunting, Anna Karenina adultery, Shakespeare teen suicide, usury and the occult. Faulkner, oy. ... Realize cat with hat encourages children to make a mess while mother is out. Discover in American Library Association Banned Books Week literature that the Bible was challenged as "obscene and pornographic" at library in Fairbanks, Alaska. Fear for future of human race.

Library Association sends information on case in Wyoming challenging Judy Blume book Forever. Judy reigning Queen of banned books, maybe because writes books about teen-agers in which they talk and think like actual teen-agers as opposed to adult's idea of what teen-agers should be like. (How quickly we forget.) Parent complained Forever contains sex described graphically. Spells graphically "grafically."

Read that parent in Lambertville, N.J., objected to The Amazing Bone by William Steig, because animals use tobacco. Love Steig, love Bone, hate tobacco. Heart sinks. Reports of censorship at highest mark in last 10 years. Find myself counting uses of Lord's name in vain in Catcher. Read dictionary instead. ...

Consider entire K-12 curriculum of banned books, beginning with Night Kitchen ... Great stuff all. Foolproof pedagogical method: tell students they cannot, repeat, CANNOT, read these books. Too stimulating. Watch reading scores soar. Next stop, Faulkner. .. Decide oldest child is right. Reread Bridge to Terabithia. Even better the second time.

Banned Books: ALA's list, from Jack London to Nabokov

To observe the American Library Association's Banned Books Week 2010, here's a selection (from a much longer list) of banned books and the reasons why.

Classics all, old and new, have come under attack. In the case of a bookstore in Orem UT, the sale of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess resulted in the owner's closing up the store and relocating to another city. The Awakening, Kate Chopin's 1899 novel about a woman who challenges orthodox views of motherhood, was still being questioned in 2006.

The Sunday New York Times has a list of ten ways readers can celebrate Banned Books Week, and a link to a letter from the always-pertinent Mark Twain regarding the banning of Huckleberry Finn by the public library in Omaha, Nebraska: "It has started a number of hitherto spotless people to reading Huck Finn, out of a natural human curiosity to learn what this is all about -- people who had not heard of him before; people whose morals will go to wreck and ruin now."

Huck remains in good company these days along with Jem and Scout, Harry Potter, Deenie, and Holden Caulfield; here's a short excerpt from the ALA website, and reasons why the books have been banned over the years.

The Awakening, Kate Chopin: Retained on the Northwester Suburban High School District 214 reading list in Arlington Heights, IL along with eight other challenged titles in 2006. A board member, elected amid promises to bring her Christian beliefs into all board decision-making, raised the controversy based on excerpts from the books she'd found on the Internet. First published in 1899, this novel so distrubed critics and the public that it was banished for decades afterward.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee: Challenged in Eden Valley, MN (1977) and temporarily banned due to words "damn" and "whore lady" used in the novel. Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy novel." Challenged at the Warren, IN Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature."... Banned from the Lindale, TX advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community." Challenged by a Glynn County, GA (2001) School Board member because of profanity. The novel was retained; returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, OK High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High School's sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. ....

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck: Burned by the East St. Louis, IL Public Library (1939) and barred from the Buffalo, NY Public Library (1939) on the grounds that "vulgar words" were used. Banned in Kansas City, MO (1939); Banned in Kern County CA the scene of Steinbeck's novel (1939); Banned in Ireland (1953); .... Banned in Kanawha, IA High School classes (1980); Challenged in Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980); Challenged as required reading for Richford, VT (1981) High School English students due to the book's language and portrayal of a former minister who recounts how he took advantage of a young woman ... Challenged in the Greenville, SC schools (1991) because the book uses the name of God and Jesus in a "vain and profane manner along with inappropriate sexual references." Challenged in the Union City, TN High School classes (1993).

Catch-22, Joseph Heller: Banned in Strongsville, OH (1972), but the school board's action was overturned in 1976 by a U.S. District Court in Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District. Challenged at the Dallas, TX Independent School District high school libraries (1974); in Snoqualmie, WA (1979) because of its several references to women as "whores."

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut: Challenged in many communities, but burned in Drake, ND (1973). Banned in Rochester, MI because the novel "contains and makes references to religious matters" and thus fell within the ban of the establishment clause.... Challenged at the Owensboro, KY High School library (1985) because of "foul language, a section depicting a picture of an act of bestiality, a reference to 'Magic Fingers' attached to the protagonist's bed to help him sleep, and the sentence: 'The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty."' ...

The Call of the Wild, Jack London: Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1933).

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess: In 1973 a book seller in Orem, UT was arrested to selling the novel. Charges were later dropped, but the book seller was forced to close the store and relocate to another city. Removed from Aurora, CO high school (1976) due to "objectionable" language and from high school classrooms in Westport, MA (1977) because of "objectionable" language. Removed from two Anniston, AL High school libraries (1982), but later reinstated on a restricted basis.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck: Banned in Ireland (1953); Syracuse, IN (1974); Oil City, PA (I977); Grand Blanc, MI (1979); Continental, OH (1980) and other communities. Challenged in Greenville, SC (1977) by the Fourth Province of the Knights of the Ku Klux KIan; Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980); St. David, AZ (1981) and Tell City, IN (1982) due to "profanity and using God's name in vain." ... Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga, TN (1989) because "Steinbeck is known to have had an anti business attitude:" In addition, "he was very questionable as to his patriotism:' ... Retained in the Olathe, KS Ninth grade curriculum (2007) despite a parent calling the novel a “worthless, profanity-riddled book” which is “derogatory towards African Americans, women, and the developmentally disabled.”

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote: Banned, but later reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, GA (2000). The controversy began in early 1999 when a parent complained about sex, violence, and profanity in the book that was part of an Advanced Placement English Class.

A Separate Peace, John Knowles Challenged in Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy sex novel." Challenged at the Fannett-Metal High School in Shippensburg, PA (1985) because of its allegedly offensive language. ... Challenged at the McDowell County, NC schools (1996) because of "graphic language."

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser Banned in Boston, MA (1927) and burned by the Nazis in Germany (1933) because it "deals with low love affairs."