11 Famous Books That Were Banned
11 Famous Books That Were Banned
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Do you love reading books and want to learn about those that have made the news for something other than their ratings? If so, then you might be interested to learn about some famous banned books! These have interesting stories associated with them and are a lot of fun to read about.
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Since I recently seeded an article about destroying books in Virginia, I thought this would be a good follow-up article.
I recall that in my youth books like Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn were almost considered required reading. The only book I recall being banned at that time was D.H.Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.
It's surprising how many of these banned works were "must reads" when I was a kid . And I read many of them .
Back in the '60s Abbie Hoffman wrote a work called "Steal This Book" . Now I think a more eye-catching title would be "Ban This Book" . I'm working up a draft right now . Do you have anything you would like to see included ?
A draft of a book called "Ban this Book"? It could be a story about a bunch of righteous people who want to ban the bible, or it could be about the kind of experience I had on a bus here. I was sitting down on a side seat facing the centre of the bus, and it was standing room only that was left. A young pretty girl came in and stood in front of me wearing a T-shirt that made me look at her in sort of shock. It said "Fuck you, Fuck me, Fuck everybody" in bold print. when she saw my face her cheeks turned red and she covered her T-shirt with her arm. Lots of people wear T-shirts here printed with English on them, even if they don't know what they say since not that many people speak English.
Cute anecdote ... thanks !
I'm stunned that these books are banned...Jack London's, ''Call of the Wild'' banned!!!!
With the shit on tv and the video games they play, these books are the only sane thing around.
Yet they allow "reality" hos and pimps all over TV programing every evening...
Corret, ''was banned''..I read this as kid and still have all of Jack London's books. Including this one, White Fang, Return of White Fang, Sea Witch.
Great books.
BANNED!
Over the years, communities around the country have banned many classic works of literature. As part of the American Library Associations annual Banned Books Week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2), libraries and bookstores are urging these same communities to stand up against censorship. In that spirit, heres a list of 50 books that have been banned at one time or another somewhere in the U.S., followed by their year of publication and categorized by the reason they were banned.
Too Political
1. Uncle Toms Cabin , Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
2. All Quiet on the Western Front , Erich Maria Remarque, 1928
3. A Farewell to Arms , Ernest Hemingway, 1929
4. The Grapes of Wrath , John Steinbeck, 1939
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls , Ernest Hemingway, 1940
6. Animal Farm , George Orwell, 1945
7. 1984 , George Orwell, 1949
8. Doctor Zhivago , Boris Pasternak, 1957
9. Slaughterhouse-Five , Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1969
10. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse , Peter Matthiessen, 1983
Too Much Sex
1. Madame Bovary , Gustave Flaubert, 1856
2. Tess of the dUrbervilles , Thomas Hardy, 1891
3. Ulysses , James Joyce, 1922
4. The Sun Also Rises , Ernest Hemingway, 1926
5. Lady Chatterleys Lover , D.H. Law-rence, 1928
6. Tropic of Cancer , Henry Miller, 1934
7. Lolita , Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
8. Peyton Place , Grace Metalious, 1956
9. Rabbit, Run , John Updike, 1960
10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , Maya Angelou, 1969
11. Jaws , Peter Benchley, 1974
12. Forever , Judy Blume, 1975
13. The Prince of Tides , Pat Conroy, 1986
14. Beloved , Toni Morrison, 1987
15. How the Garca Girls Lost Their Accents , Julia Alvarez, 1991
Irreligious
1. On the Origin of Species , Charles Darwin, 1859
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954
3. The Last Temptation of Christ , Nikos Kazantzakis, 1960
4. Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya , 1972
5. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, 1997-2007
Socially Offensive
1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Franklin, 1791
2. The Scarlet Letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Mark Twain, 1884
4. As I Lay Dying , William Faulkner, 1930
5. Brave New World , Aldous Huxley, 1932
6. Gone With the Wind , Margaret Mitchell, 1936
7. Of Mice and Men , John Steinbeck, 1937
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl , Anne Frank, 1947
9. The Catcher in the Rye , J.D. Salinger, 1951
10. Fahrenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury, 1953
11. To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee, 1960
12. James and the Giant Peach , Roald Dahl, 1961
13. Catch-22 , Joseph Heller, 1961
14. A Clockwork Orange , Anthony Burgess, 1962
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest , Ken Kesey, 1962
16. In Cold Blood , Truman Capote, 1966
17. Cujo , Stephen King, 1981
18. The Color Purple , Alice Walker, 1982
19. Ordinary People , Judith Guest, 1982
20. A Thousand Acres , Jane Smiley, 1991
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , 1791
Censure: Frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century, the essays were often sanitized by publishers so that schools would buy copies.
Benjamin Franklin: His memoirs, written after he turned 65, include the essay Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress, in which Franklin lists the myriad ways that older women make superior lovers.
The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
Censure: Conservative clergy have condemned the novel since 1850 for its adultery theme; the most recent school challenge was in 1999.
Roger Chillingworth: He develops from a kind scholar into an obsessed fiend. Chillingworth arrives in Boston to find his wife the mother of another mans child. Fixated on punishing Hesters seducer, he symbolizes Satans ability to prevent forgiveness.
Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya, 1972
Censure: Challenged or banned in four states.
Ultima: The old healer Ultima combines herbs, prayer and tough love to practice her mysteriously potent branch of medicine. Is it witchcraft? The townsfolkand some conservative Christian readerssuspect it is.
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury, 1953
Censure: Ballantine published sanitized editions for schools from 1967 to 1973 and sold only the sanitized edition from 1973 to 1979without asking or telling the author.
Faber: In a dystopian society that burns books to snuff original thought, Faber belongs to a group of academics who memorize literature to preserve it for future generations.
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck, 1939
Censure: Burned in California, New York and Illinois; challenged or banned in 10 states.
Granma and Grampa Joad: The Joads are damn proud of their cussin broodthat kind of language helped get Steinbecks masterpiece blacklisted across the country, including in Kern County, Calif., where much of the novel is set.
A Thousand Acres
by Jane Smiley, 1991
Censure: Banned at Lynden High School, Washington, 1994.
Larry Cook: Cook announces plans to divide his lands among his three adult daughters. The generous-patriarch image shatters when we learn that this wealthy Iowa farmer, based on Shakespeares King Lear, is a pedophile who abused his girls decades earlier.
Harry Potter
series by J.K. Rowling, 19972007
Censure: Burned in New Mexico; challenged in 19 states.
Albus Dumbledore: A modern-day Merlin, the Hogwarts headmaster personifies the allegedly demonic attributes of this serieswitchcraft, sorcery and rebellion against authority. Rowling added fuel to the bonfire with her 2007 assertion that Dumbledore is gay.
All part of the "dumbing of America".
Uggg.. I hate book bannings. It's a from of mind control. When they were at it, they should have also banned " Fahrenheit 451".
And they banned "Where the wild things are"? Glad I never worked in that schooldistrict.
Very scary. These are probably the same parents who take their kids to see "Friday 13th" movies.
There's a great scenario about book banning in the movie "Field of Dreams".
LMAO.
No problem in the future. All books will be in the cloud and edited accordingly.
No need to burn or ban a book if it is in the cloud. Just edit it. Characters can change names, goals, themes and the book can completely change into something it never was into something else entirely. One generation at a time.
buzz I remember an episode of the Waltons , where the local preacher was against a book burning going on in the community as aprotest of german actions at the time ( the Nazi book burnings) the good people were set on burning anything printed in the german language .
the pinicle of the episode was the preacher , pulling a book from the fire , and almost crying , he hands it to a woman that reads german , and asks her to translate , her words silence the crowd as they listen to the translation , it of course is a german printed version of the bible . I wonder how many people remember this episode?
take what you wish from this , but that's one picture of book burning that remains with me .
I can't believe they banned The Call of the Wild for violence and didn't ban The Last of the Mohicans, or The Red Pony.
Sheesh!
I knew about Huckleberry Finn being banned because of the derogatory view of Jim. But, frankly, I thought the book portrayed Jim as a courageous individual, and the vernacular to be true to the times. Nor can I believe that The Grapes of Wrath was banned! Geemonetti, the movie was hard enough to watch! I think it should be required reading...
It is amazing what wonderful books have been banned due to short-sighted individuals who wish to dictate morality/educational value/whateverto the rest of the world. Who died and made them king? I can't think of any book that should be banned from public libraries or school libraries. Pretty much everything has some kind of value!
Sigh!!! Thanks for this article, Buzz. I learned a lot, and appreciate the time you took to educate me further!
Yes, and it is one of my favorite movies!
I remember that episode, Mark. It was very moving.
I have my gg-grandpa Scherer's bible, in German. It means a LOT to me, for sure!
You're very welcome, Dowser. I've learned a lot from you too.
I read and re-read several times over Call of the Wild and White Fang before I got into seventh grade. Awesome books for anyone with a smidgeon of imagination.
Robert,
Sometimes they weren't banned, just edited. I very much recommend the book, Grumbles From the Grave by Robert Heinlein. A big piece of it consists of his correspondence with his editor at Charles Scribner's. From the 1940's till the mid 1960's, Heinlein did one boy's book of Science Fiction a year. You wouldn't believe the stuff the editor objected to, claiming it was too sexual. As Heinlein's wife said, "She had a dirty mind".
Finally, Scribner's turned down one of his books flat. By doing so, they broke their contract and he sold the book elsewhere, and it won a Hugo award (the equivalent of an Oscar in Science Fiction). The book they objected to....Starship Troopers, which wasn't anything like the movie (the movie didn't come out until both Heinlein and his wife were dead and couldn't object).
That they were Broliver.
You're so kind!
I'm going to make sure I have a copy of all of these books, just in case they're banned here. I want Peep to be able to read them!