120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature

by Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, Dawn B Sova

Throughout history, nations, peoples, and governments have censored writers and their works on political, religious, sexual, and social grounds. Although the literary merit of the majority of these books has been proven time and time again, censorship efforts are still in place today. From Animal Farm to The Grapes of Wrath, The Koran to The Talmud, Ulysses to the Harry Potter series, The Canterbury Tales to The Bell Jar, this revised edition examines the many struggles these books faced in order to be read. Tracing the censorship histories of 120 works from across the world, 120 Banned Books, Second Edition provides a summary of each work, its censorship history, and suggestions for further reading. Many new titles have been added to reflect some of the controversies in recent years, and updates have been made to existing entries on such classic books as Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Reference, Banned Books, History, Education, Historical

560 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ban a book or a movie or whatever, you just encourage me to read or otherwise check it out. That's what my dad taught me. There are books listed in this that are surprising and others I wasn't planning on reading (the Gossip Girl series). What's more surprising is some of the reasons for banning a book (did you know that many African Americans complained about To Kill a Mockingbird?). What's even more disgusting is how few people have to complain for a book to be pulled (one)!

I challenge all of you -- if you hear a book is banned somewhere, read it!

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. A lot of the situations would not have occurred to me, and I am thankful that my own parents were never crazy enough to challenge any of the books I read due to my sensitive nature. A lot of the books are banned or censored and were expected from my end since I had read a few of them and knew of the offending passages.

Some of them are offensive because it depicts women thinking, some are offensive because of language and still others are offensive because of sexual situations. Considering all this garbage of censorship and bowdlerization, I am surprised that some of Shakespeare was never formally opposed. Although, given the fact that there are 120 of them in here, it could have been challenged and I forgot. I mean, Oliver Twist by Dickens is in there because of how it depicts Jews in the 1830s. No seriously, instead of using it as a bridge to teach people how things were in the 1830s, they decide all out to go and try to ban it because it hurts their widdle feelings. Yeah, that isn't a typo, I was using baby talk to mock people that would consider their feelings hurt by a book writing about things that seriously happened. Not that Oliver Twist was real or true or anything, but the depiction of how Jews were perceived is valid.

Some other books were challenged because it made people "uncomfortable." For instance, To Kill a Mockingbird was challenged because it contains the word "nigger." I guess I can understand wanting to defend your child from the truth that such words were used back then to refer to a group of people, namely black people, but can't we move to discuss it rather than try to stamp it out?

One book I am surprised about is The Holy Bible. Not because it was included at all but because of the reason it was included. It wasn't because of the horrible things that happened in it or the sex scenes or anything like that, it was because of the Roman Catholic Church opposing their own power being challenged. See, back in the fourth century, some Saint translated the Bible into Vulgate Latin from it's Greek and Hebrew roots. The Roman Catholic Church(called the RCC from now on if I need to) decided that it was wrong to allow common people to be able to read the Bible in their own local language and called the Vulgate Latin text the only true bible. The RCC bitterly defended this right by killing the translators of the Bible under charges of Heresy. However, we all know how that turned out with the Schisms after the 95 theses of Martin Luther.

Censorship and bowdlerization are things that are unforgivable to me because they prevent the free exchange of ideas and the benefits of a democratic society. All this book really served to do was expand my own reading list, though it was written pretty well. It also includes further reading for each book mentioned to find out the particulars of why it was challenged.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love (most) banned books. They are usually banned because someone doesn't like what they have to say about something. They usually encourage people to think about the status quo and realize that "the status isn't quo." But sometimes, I cannot for the life of me figure out why a particular book is unacceptable to people. That's why this book was so much fun. It gave a history of the banning of various books throughout history. What kind of worried me was that I tend to think of book banning as something from the past that's not really done anymore. But a couple of books were found objectionable and taken out of school libraries recently, while I was still in high school. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But anyway, this book is a good source of information about censored books.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to look through. It is a little more comprehensive in its summaries than the information on banned books available for free on the ALA website. I plan on reviewing the longer four volume set soon.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more people protest a book, the more the public wants to read it.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collates the histories of 120 books banned in various places around the world, mainly in the US and UK but pulling in issues flagged elsewhere too. There are some surprising books included in this list (the bible banning debates were rather interesting) and others that are not so surprising but all of them show that not only do people get in a tizz about the smallest things but it also doesn't take many voices of dissent to get something banned. And the excuses used are insane, particularly the 'protection of children' argument from countries that do little to prevent child shootings. As others have said, if you ban a book, I will read it and I will tell everyone about it so this is now basically a to-read list for me.

[Corky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book everyone should read for Banned Books Week. (Which, unfortunately, is not when I read it.) This book lists books that have been challenged, tells you a little about the plot and what the book is all about, then explains the attempts to have said books removed from the shelves. It discusses everything from popular book series (like Harry Potter) to controversial fiction like The Satanic Verses to stuff by DH Lawrence and even classics like The Grapes of Wrath or a number of works by Mark Twain. If this is a subject that interests you - I highly suggest you try and read this book.

[Li'el Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-written book, providing full summaries (including endings - don't read if you don't want spoilers!) and details of how and where each was censored. Gave me lots of ideas for reading material!

[Ted Manahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice summary of each book, ancient or modern, many of which I have heard of but will never read.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a decent overview of some of the more popularized banned book cases, with a brief history of the conflict surrounding each work, but it serves as more of a checklist and starting point for further research than as a stand-alone reference on the subject. The books are divided into four categories (political, religious, sexual, social), though some of the books could fit into multiple categories (Orwell and Huxley especially). Some of the books are obvious choices for inclusion due to the media stir they've created over the years (1984, Catch-22, Harry Potter), but the works included are rather oddly chosen -- a review of banned books that would include both Doctor Zhivago and The Gulag Archipelago but not The Master and Margarita seems incomplete to me, given that the latter was banned from publication until 1960, decades after it was written and Bulgakov had passed away, and only then published overseas. Perhaps because it could very easily be included in all four sections of this neatly compartmentalized compilation, the editors decided to leave it out lest it overshadow those that made the cut.

[Michiel Bon · Rating 4 out of 5]

120 Banned Books verdient 4 van de 5 sterren. Dit boek biedt een fascinerend overzicht van werken die door de jaren heen zijn verboden, waarbij elke titel wordt voorzien van context en uitleg over de redenen voor de censuur. De auteurs slagen erin om op een informatieve en beknopte manier uiteenlopende boeken en hun controverses te bespreken, wat zowel inzichtelijk als boeiend is voor lezers die geïnteresseerd zijn in literatuurgeschiedenis en vrijheid van meningsuiting. Hoewel sommige beschrijvingen wat kort en feitelijk blijven, biedt het boek een breed en divers overzicht dat zeker aanzet tot verdere verdieping. Een waardevolle bron voor literatuurliefhebbers en iedereen die wil begrijpen waarom boeken soms zo’n bedreiging kunnen vormen.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

obviously i did not read all of the book synopses, and this book will be more of a reference, but i am somewhat satisfied with the comprehensive nature of this book, though not entirely satisfied about the categories used to indicate why these books were/are banned: on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds. these categories seem somewhat arbitrary as most of the explanations for the banning of these books seems to clearly cross these divisions, and sometimes the books barely fit into the categories they are placed into. just a thought.

[Brad McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is broken down into sections such as "Banned for Religious Reasons" and "Banned for Sexuality". Within each section you're given a synopsis of the book followed by a history of the censorship of that book.

It was disappointingly unsurprising to read how people are vilified by speaking out against the status quo. If you want to really rile some folks up, be a feminist writing in a Muslim country. Or you can write a book with lots of sex and naughty words and get teachers to assign it in school.

For more of my thoughts go here: http://bradmckenna.wordpress.com/2012...

[Kelly Weitekamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very informative and interesting reference book. I really like the way each entry is set up, giving a synopsis of the book, a brief history and where/when/why it was banned. I've learned some fascinating tidbits about books I never would have considered all that "dangerous" but nonetheless...at some point in time all of these books have threatened some bit of the establishment.

[Sara W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book you read from cover to cover. It lists 120 books, in different "banned" categories, and states why they were banned. I've only glanced through it to read about the books I've already read (Harry Potter, Lolita, etc.), but I definitely plan to read more of the books listed. It's interesting to see what books cause people to freak out and why.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reasons for banning books. I enjoyed this book because it included books from history; one from Confucius and two from Thomas Paine. The list included books I was familiar with, some I wasn't familiar with and some that completely baffled me as to why they were banned and made me wonder if the complainers had even read the book.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am still amazed at what can incite a group, or individuals, and how they would like to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. Uncle Tom's Cabin???? Give me a break! Anyway, after perusing this book, I didn't identify any books I wanted to add to my "to read list." I was hoping to find something a little shady or thought provoking. Na Da.

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice resource. It's fascinating some of the things that people complain about in books. The authors do really mean historical since they talk about people being killed by the church for the things they've written. There are a lot of wonderful references to pre-publication censorship or censorship concerns as well. A great read if you have interest at all in the subject.

[Breanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book of banned books, categorized by why they are banned, ie religious reasons. Each entry gives a simple overview of a book, where it is banned, and why. I have this book to serve as a reference, interesting books to read next. I don't see this as a book to read cover to cover. It's just interesting to see why certain books are banned.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives me something to collect instead of trinkets

[Faith-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very enlightening book for people interested in reading up on book banning & censorship.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides good summaries of the literature and their censorship histories.

[Mick McLean]

As an opponent to censorship. This book gave my anger justification. No one should suppress art and literature whether it's for political or religious reasons.

[Reginald]

Censorship history at its best.........There were a few titles, listed that I'd forgotten about over the years..... An interesting Ready-Reference type book..