Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age

by Paul S. Boyer

The first edition of Purity in Print documented book censorship in America from the 1870s to the 1930s, embedding it within the larger social and cultural history of the time. In this second edition, Boyer adds two new chapters carrying his history forward to the beginning of the twenty-first century.

"Paul Boyer is one of America's most distinguished cultural historians. . . . Taking the censors of an earlier day seriously and getting beyond the caricature of Anthony Comstock, Purity in Print remains one of the most important books on censorship in the United States."—Carl Kaestle, Brown University, co-editor of The History of the Book in America, Volume IV

"Boyer . . . writes with insight and sophisticated wit . . . [about] the emergence of courageous and controversial publishers after World War I, the effect of Nazi book burnings, and the failure or reticence of librarians . . . to be in the anti-censorship vanguard. . . . The best literary, social, and ethical history of [book censorship in] the U.S."—Choice

Genres: Nonfiction, History

520 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2002

About the author

Paul S. Boyer is a U.S. cultural and intellectual historian (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1966) and is Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus and former director (1993-2001) of the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has held visiting professorships at UCLA, Northwestern University, and William & Mary; has received Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships; and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of American Historians, and the American Antiquarian Society. Before coming to Wisconsin in 1980, he taught at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (1967-1980).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S._...

Reviews

[Cara Lynn]

Read for school

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good in depth history of censorship from after the American Civil War through the 1930s, with additional material concerning the periods after that. There is a slightly more legal aspect to it than I had hoped for, but it treats the material with more than just a dry tone, so it's a rather engaging read.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid summary of American book censorship in the last 200 years. Boyer's choice examples and sprinkles of humor keep the story from getting bogged down in historical facts.