Banned, Burned, Censored

1984

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:31:58 GMT

Banned in the USSR for political reasons.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:33:36 GMT

Excluded from the children’s room in the Brooklyn, N.Y. Public Library (1876) and the Denver, Colo. Public Library (1876). Confiscated at the USSR border (1930).

The Age of Reason

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:28:42 GMT

Banned in UK for blasphemy in the 18th Century.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:34:21 GMT

Banned in China (1931) for portraying animals and humans on the same level; "Animals should not use human language."

All Quiet on the Western Front

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:34:40 GMT

Banned in Nazi Germany for demoralizing and insulting the Wehrmacht.

An American Tragedy

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:35:00 GMT

Banned in Boston, Mass. (1927) and burned by the Nazis in Germany (1933) because it "deals with low love affairs."

Animal Farm

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:35:19 GMT

Publication delayed in UK because of anti-Stalin theme. Confiscated in Germany by Allied troops. Banned in Malaysia for religious reasons.

Antic Hay

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:24:05 GMT

Banned on grounds of obscenity in Boston, Mass. (1930).

Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:35:35 GMT

U.S. Customs held up 500 sets of the translation by the French scholar Mardrus, which were imported from England (1927-31). It was confiscated in Cairo, Egypt (1985), on the grounds that it contained obscene passages which posed a threat to the country's moral fabric.

As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:35:57 GMT

Banned in the Graves County School District in Mayfield, KY (1986) because it contained "offensive and obscene passages referring to abortion and used God's name in vain." The decision was reversed a week later after intense pressure from the ACLU and considerable negative publicity. Banned at Central High School in Louisville, KY (1994) temporarily because the book uses profanity and questions the existence of God.

The Holy Bible: King James Version

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:36:35 GMT

Many editions of the Bible have also been banned and burned by civil and religious authorities throughout history. In 1551 in Spain, the Inquisitorial Index of Valentia forbade Bibles in Spanish or any other vernacular. Banned from import in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1956; official directions to libraries stated "The section on religion must obtain solely anti-religious books. Religiously dogmatic books must be left in the large libraries, but removed from smaller ones". Import of the Bible was not permitted. In 1956, the Bible was published after a lapse of 38 years. On July 1, 1996, Singapore convicted a woman for possessing the Jehovah's Witness translation of the Bible. A 2000 US government report reported that Burma bans all Bible translations into local indigenous languages. Distributing Bibles, along with other forms of proselytizing by non-Muslims, is also banned in Saudi Arabia.

Black Beauty

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:36:51 GMT

Banned in South Africa in 1955 because of the title.

Black Spring

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:28:20 GMT

Banned in South Africa (1991-1993) and Malawi (1980).

Borstal Boy

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:34:35 GMT

Banned in Ireland in 1958 because of its treatment of adolescent sexuality, questionable language, and critiques of Irish republicanism, social attitudes and the Catholic Church. Banned in Australia and New Zealand shortly after.

Brave New World

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:37:30 GMT

Banned in Ireland (1932). Removed from classroom in Miller, MO (1980), because it made promiscuous sex "look like fun".

Bridge to Terabithia

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:37:54 GMT

Banned because of "anti-religion, language, and discussion of death.”

The Call of the Wild

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:38:23 GMT

Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1932).

Candide

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:38:41 GMT

In 1930, U.S. Customs seized Harvard-bound copies of Candide, claiming obscenity. Two Harvard professors defended the work, and it was later admitted in a different edition. In 1944, the US Post Office demanded the omission of Candide from a mailed Concord Books catalog.

The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:39:00 GMT

Subjected to revisions in 1928; editions today tend to avoid four letter words.

Catch-22

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:39:19 GMT

Banned in Strongsville, Ohio (1972), but the school board's action was overturned in 1976 by a U.S. District Court.

The Catcher in the Rye

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:39:43 GMT

SBanned from English classes at the Freeport High School in De Funiak Springs, Fla. (1985) because it is "unacceptable" and "obscene." Banned from the classrooms in Boron, Calif High School (1989) because the book contains profanity. Banned, but later reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, Ga. (2000).

The Children's Hour - Acting Edition

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:52:27 GMT

Banned in Boston, Chicago, and in London for its hint of homosexuality.

A Clockwork Orange

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:39:59 GMT

In 1973 a book seller in Orem, Utah, was arrested for selling the novel. Charges were later dropped, but the book seller as forced to close the store and relocate to another city.

The Color Purple

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:40:15 GMT

Banned in the Souderton, Pa. Area School District (1992) as inappropriate reading for tenth graders because it is "smut."

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:40:32 GMT

Banned in the US during the Red Scare.

The Confessions (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:41:23 GMT

Banned by U.S. Customs in 1929 as injurious to public morality.

The Crucible

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:57:20 GMT

Banned because it contains "sick words from the mouths of demon-possessed people".

Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy (Skeptical Reader Series)

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:24:14 GMT

All works by and about the author were banned in Nazi-Germany. In 1929 in China, the Nationalist government stopped, where possible, the reading of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Works by Marx were banned by Russian authorities from 1871 to 1900.

Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:50:20 GMT

Banned from English classes at Spring Valley Community High School in French Lick, IN (1981) because of profanity.

The Decameron

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:35:30 GMT

Banned from the U.S. mails under the Comstock Law.
Banned in South Africa during the Apartheid regime under the Customs and Excise Act No. 55 of 1955 and Publication Act No. 42 of 1974. Ten tales from The Decameron were banned by the Department of Customs and Excise in Australia in 1963.

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:41:47 GMT

Banned by Pope Urban VIII for heresy and breach of good faith (1633).

Doctor Zhivago

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:59:50 GMT

Banned within the USSR until 1988 for its criticism of the Bolshevik Party.

Droll Stories V1

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:31:43 GMT

Banned by Canada Customs (1914).

Montaigne: Essays

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:21:22 GMT

1595 France-Lyons: Certain sections of the unexpurgated edition were banned by the Church for being tolerant of an easy morality.

Eyeless In Gaza (Vintage Classics)

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:24:43 GMT

Banned in Ireland (1936-1953).

Fahrenheit 451

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:42:17 GMT

Ironically, students at the Venado Middle School in Irvine, Calif. received copies of the book with scores of words--mostly "hells" and "damns"--blacked out (the novel is about book burning and censorship). After receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said the censored copies would no longer be used (1992).

A Farewell to Arms

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:42:40 GMT

The June 1929 issue of Scribner's Magazine, which ran Hemingway's novel, was banned in Boston, Mass. (1929). Banned in Italy (1929) because of its painfully accurate account of the Italian retreat from Caporetto, Italy; banned in Ireland (1939).

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:42:56 GMT

Declared non-mailable by the U.S. Post Office (1940). On Feb. 21, 1973, eleven Turkish book publishers went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing, and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month's and six month's imprisonment "for spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state" and the confiscation of their books.

Ghosts (Dover Thrift)

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:38:06 GMT

In Spain in 1939, all works by Ibsen were purged by the Franco Government. In 1890, Ghosts was banned in St. Petersburg on religious grounds for references to incest and sexually transmitted diseases. The ban was lifted in 1958.

The Giver

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:43:13 GMT

A Newbery Award winner, this book was banned for "sexually explicit and occult themes, violence, and references to euthanasia."

Gone with the Wind

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:43:30 GMT

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was banned from the Anaheim, Calif. Union High School District English classrooms (1978).

Grapes of Wrath

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:43:49 GMT

Burned by the St. Louis, Mo. Public Library and barred from the Buffalo, N.Y Public Library (1939) on the grounds that "vulgar words" were used. Banned in Kansas City, Mo. (1939); Kern County, Calif., the scene of Steinbeck's novel, (1939); Ireland (1953); Kanawha, Iowa High School classes (1980); and Morris, Manitoba (1982).

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, Book 1)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:44:55 GMT

All seven Harry Potter books have been banned for their depictions of "magic, sorcery, wizardry, witchcraft, Satanism, occult, and sheer evil".

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:45:11 GMT

In highly publicized incidents, this book has been banned as recently as 2001 for "racial depictions". In January 2011, a new edition was produced that replaces the word “nigger” with “slave.”

Invisible Man

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:45:57 GMT

Excerpts banned in Butler, PA (1975).

James and the Giant Peach

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:46:15 GMT

Removed from classrooms in Stafford County, Va. Schools (1995) and placed in restricted access in the library because the story contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults.

The Joke

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:37:21 GMT

Banned in Czechoslovakia after the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968.

The Jungle

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:46:34 GMT

Banned from public libraries in Yugoslavia (1929). Burned in the Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair's socialist views (1933). Banned in East Germany (1956) as inimical to communism. Banned in South Korea (1985).

King Lear

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:46:47 GMT

Now considered to be among Shakespeare's greatest works, Lear was performed in drastically adapted form--Nahum Tate's Restoration version eliminated characters and boasted a happy ending in which Lear is restored to the throne and Cordelia survives. The play was subject to political censorship when it was banned from the English stage from 1788 to 1820, out of respect to King George III's alleged insanity. The tragic ending of King Lear was not restored until 1823, and the character of the fool was finally reintroduced in 1838.

The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:00:12 GMT

Banned in Thailand for its criticism of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.