Banned Books 100 - A History of Censorship in World Literature

Author: (American) Nicholas Carruthers
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Through 100 classic works once considered forbidden, explore the course of cultural evolution over thousands of years. This book compiles 100 famous works banned in the Western history, either due to social, erotic, political, or religious reasons, banned by governments or religious organizations in various countries. They include literary works such as novels, poems, biographies, as well as religious classics and political manifestos. Works now widely recognized, such as Decameron and The Red and the Black, are also included. Additionally, the book, based on detailed historical records, faithfully recreates the origins and processes of each work's banning, allowing readers to gain insights into the book and press censorship in Western history and understand the development and evolution of human culture.
Throughout history, pioneers of thought have continuously refined the essence of wisdom and fought against authoritarianism with their lives, ultimately breaking free from the cage of thought. The long night of the history of human thought has begun to dawn.
This book selects 100 classic works that were once unacceptable in society or the ruling political environment due to social, erotic, political, or religious factors, including:
Social banned books: Catch-22, Leaves of Grass, The Diary of Anne Frank;
Erotic banned books: One Thousand and One Nights, Madame Bovary, Ulysses;
Political banned books: Doctor Zhivago, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Animal Farm;
Religious banned books: The Flying Bible, The Satanic Verses, Oliver Twist.
A Clockwork Orange has sparked much debate since its publication. The debate primarily centered on the language used in the book and the scenes of brutal violence and sexual violence that appeared in the early part of the novel. In 1973, a book dealer in Orem, Utah, was arrested for selling three books with obscene content. These books were The Last Tango in Paris by Robert A. Heinlein, The Worshipers by William H. Gable, and this A Clockwork Orange. Based on the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Miller v. California (June 21, 1973), the town passed a specific ordinance on obscene materials. Under this ordinance, police charged bookstore owner Carroll Grant. Although the charges were later dropped, Grant was forced to close his bookstore and move to another city.
In 1976, in Aurora, Colorado, the school board approved 1,275 books for use in middle schools during a regular meeting. However, ten books were not approved, including A Clockwork Orange. The other nine were The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, The Rebirth of Peter Broder by Max Ehrlich, New American Poetry 1945–1960 by Donald Allen, From San Francisco by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Yage Letters by William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, The Heart of Coney Island by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kaddish and Other Poems: 1958–1960 by Allen Ginsberg, Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara, and Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. These books had already been included in the teachers' course reading lists, but on January 13, 1976, the school board issued a statement to the teachers. The statement said, "These books will no longer be purchased, no longer used as classroom assignments, and anyone who has read them will no longer receive credit for them." The school board did not declare these books legally obscene or remove them from the school library. The teachers protested the school board's decision and took it to court.
In court, according to the relevant law passed in 1977, the school board's decision infringed on their academic freedom. In the ruling, Judge Mathis stated that the board had fulfilled its duty by offering the course as an elective, which "provided students with an opportunity for free exchange of ideas." He also said, "It is sufficient to conclude that in these schools' classrooms, the school has granted teachers and students the freedom to discuss contemporary literature." The school board may not have imposed their values on the literature they chose to consider.
Nevertheless, the judge still ruled against the teachers, as their contracts included a specific clause related to this issue, where the teachers had already sold their rights to academic freedom.
In 1977, in Westport, Connecticut, parents protested to the school board about the use of this book in middle school classrooms. In their protest, they