These are books that have been commonly banned over the years, and are also now in the public domain.

In other words, they are the ultimate paradox: freely available to billions on the Internet, yet still attempts are made to control them.

Some sources for information include Banned Books Online, the ALA lists of frequently banned and challenged books, and Wikipedia banned books.

For more information on what falls under public domain, consult Project Gutenberg or Wikipedia's information.

In most cases, if it was published after 1926, DO NOT ADD IT HERE.
1

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,511,527 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,910,341 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,340,192 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,023,155 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.06 avg rating — 611,596 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,898,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.53 avg rating — 238,576 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.02 avg rating — 4,592,012 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.59 avg rating — 299,919 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.92 avg rating — 475,140 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.76 avg rating — 303,011 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.92 avg rating — 243,412 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.50 avg rating — 138,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.77 avg rating — 203,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.43 avg rating — 561,042 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.83 avg rating — 351,417 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.15 avg rating — 714 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.76 avg rating — 138,442 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.27 avg rating — 13,363 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.52 avg rating — 48,791 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.97 avg rating — 197,064 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.77 avg rating — 165,192 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 514,449 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.88 avg rating — 43,772 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.01 avg rating — 122,405 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
3.71 avg rating — 377,156 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.69 avg rating — 228,371 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.67 avg rating — 86,181 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.86 avg rating — 53,724 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.11 avg rating — 116,996 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.99 avg rating — 388,672 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.20 avg rating — 153 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.05 avg rating — 59,260 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.60 avg rating — 9,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.66 avg rating — 33,527 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.64 avg rating — 55,938 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.02 avg rating — 10,434 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.46 avg rating — 138,879 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.64 avg rating — 164,791 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.30 avg rating — 17,122 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.89 avg rating — 35,081 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.86 avg rating — 34,165 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.96 avg rating — 95,144 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.80 avg rating — 85,401 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.77 avg rating — 19,654 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.62 avg rating — 2,881 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.70 avg rating — 40,164 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,259,114 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.56 avg rating — 621 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.27 avg rating — 18,867 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.06 avg rating — 15,002 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.58 avg rating — 8,058 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.69 avg rating — 3,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.80 avg rating — 1,923 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.81 avg rating — 1,097 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.76 avg rating — 37 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.68 avg rating — 414 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.86 avg rating — 17,252 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.97 avg rating — 14,628 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.68 avg rating — 13,666 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.78 avg rating — 17,571 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61 books · 60 voters · list created April 14th, 2009 by John (votes) .
67 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


John 1924 books
44 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3387 books
851 friends
Bettie 15681 books
19 friends
Mir 15073 books
447 friends
Joe 102 books
27 friends
Ricki 5234 books
1476 friends
Tom 3697 books
19 friends
ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ 4177 books
464 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Jasmine (new)

Jasmine I LOVE all of these books


message 2: by Joe (new)

Joe some heavy reading


message 3: by [deleted user] (last edited Apr 25, 2009 09:18PM) (new)

Why on earth did anyone want to ban Mark Twain's books? beyond me!

Now I could see Lady Chatterly's Lover being banned! I only read about ten pages but that was enough for me!


message 4: by John (new)

John Alice wrote: "Why on earth did anyone want to ban Mark Twain's books? beyond me!"

They've been frequently accused of being racist. The last paragraph in the "Reception" section at this link may be instructive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventur...

Of course, there is a strong argument that these were some of the most strongly anti-racist books being written at the time.


message 5: by Greyweather (last edited Aug 17, 2009 01:52PM) (new)

Greyweather Removed the following books for not being public domain:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lolita
Lord of the Flies
The Satanic Verses
Mutmassungen über Jakob / Speculations about Jakob
Maurice: A Novel
Too Far Afield
The Water-Method Man


message 6: by John (new)

John Burns Surely 1984 isnt public domain either?


message 7: by Greyweather (last edited Aug 17, 2009 01:31PM) (new)

Greyweather Killthepopular wrote: "Surely 1984 isnt public domain either?"

It is not public domain in the United States or EU but it is public domain in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Japan, Jordan, the Philippines, China, and all other states that use the Berne Convention as the basis for their copyright law (basically up to 50 years after the author's death for printed works).

It will also become public domain in India in the year 2011, for those who are curious.

This applies to all of George Orwell's work published during his lifetime.

The books I removed are not public domain in any country under international copyright law.


message 8: by [deleted user] (new)

Why on earth would Adam Smith's 'A Wealth of Nations' be banned? I had no idea there were so many Liberals around when Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were banned. ha ha


message 9: by Meg (new)

Meg i was really upset when i saw you had the draft of sunset moon. i hope you know this was stolen from stephanie meyer's desk and posted on the internet. i do want to read the whole thing, but what kind of a monster would steal a half written book and put it on the internet?!?!?!


message 10: by Meg (new)

Meg I LUV all these books!



message 11: by Meg (new)


message 12: by Abi (new)

Abi if anyone hasn't read JUST LISTEN by Sarah Dessen, go for it... its one of the BEST books i have ever read... READ it and send me some emails on what good books to read...


message 13: by Sarah (new)

Sarah Meg wrote: "i was really upset when i saw you had the draft of sunset moon"

lol, I think you mean "Midnight Sun"/
And it is a good book to read- it teaches girls how utterly CREEPY Edward really is.



message 14: by Anony-miss (new)

Anony-miss a-non-y-miss Hmmm. Twilight? I know, lots of "I love" and "I hate" controversy .. but really, a best book for a teenage girl?


message 15: by Morgan (new)

Morgan i wouldnt really say it (twilight) teaches young girls any valuable lessons, really i think it does a bit of the oppisite sometimes.


message 16: by Abi (new)

Abi i simply love anything by sarah dessen:)


message 17: by Regina (new)

Regina Some books on this list is a very impressive literary piece


back to top