Whether they've been banned or not, the ideas in these books have somehow or other been considered dangerous by somebody or other. This is not a "Best Of" list, this is just a list of books that somehow or another, contain dangerous ideas. This list may surprise you, the ideas contained in these books might not even seem dangerous now, but others are just as controversial then as they were today.
1

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3

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4.02 avg rating — 4,667,347 ratings
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5

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4.01 avg rating — 123,266 ratings
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4.45 avg rating — 323,082 ratings
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8

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4.16 avg rating — 27,940 ratings
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9

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3.99 avg rating — 894,860 ratings
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10

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4.03 avg rating — 1,455,012 ratings
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11

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4.03 avg rating — 1,630,674 ratings
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12

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3.71 avg rating — 72,654 ratings
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13

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3.18 avg rating — 43,878 ratings
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14

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3.94 avg rating — 2,553,235 ratings
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15

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4.30 avg rating — 55,053 ratings
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16

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3.88 avg rating — 432,519 ratings
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17

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4.35 avg rating — 1,523,726 ratings
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18

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4.06 avg rating — 383,250 ratings
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19

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4.23 avg rating — 25,089 ratings
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20

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3.69 avg rating — 409,452 ratings
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21

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4.35 avg rating — 10,078,956 ratings
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22

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3.92 avg rating — 328,403 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 120,067 ratings
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24

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4.37 avg rating — 479,831 ratings
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25

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4.09 avg rating — 269,797 ratings
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26

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4.42 avg rating — 113 ratings
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26

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4.30 avg rating — 204 ratings
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28

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4.29 avg rating — 49 ratings
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29

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3.61 avg rating — 3,545 ratings
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30

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4.36 avg rating — 157,779 ratings
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31

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3.87 avg rating — 38,712 ratings
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32

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3.78 avg rating — 156,187 ratings
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33

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3.88 avg rating — 1,022,583 ratings
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34

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4.01 avg rating — 300,376 ratings
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35

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4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings
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36

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3.66 avg rating — 33,682 ratings
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37

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3.92 avg rating — 11,197 ratings
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38

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3.95 avg rating — 66 ratings
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39

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3.95 avg rating — 66 ratings
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40

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4.32 avg rating — 427,153 ratings
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40

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4.17 avg rating — 252,142 ratings
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42

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4.36 avg rating — 4,237,748 ratings
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43

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3.74 avg rating — 7,424 ratings
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44

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3.81 avg rating — 362 ratings
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45

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3.84 avg rating — 4,789 ratings
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46

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4.09 avg rating — 31,726 ratings
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47

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4.30 avg rating — 175 ratings
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48

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3.75 avg rating — 16 ratings
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49

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4.19 avg rating — 15,907 ratings
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50

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3.76 avg rating — 50 ratings
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51

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3.56 avg rating — 6,128 ratings
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52

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3.95 avg rating — 258,268 ratings
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53

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3.89 avg rating — 25,928 ratings
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54

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4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings
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55

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4.13 avg rating — 38 ratings
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56

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3.71 avg rating — 14 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 1,765,905 ratings
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58

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4.33 avg rating — 33 ratings
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59

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3.65 avg rating — 2,350 ratings
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60

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3.68 avg rating — 38 ratings
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60

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3.13 avg rating — 2,880 ratings
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62

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3.95 avg rating — 66 ratings
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63

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4.15 avg rating — 2,486,426 ratings
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64

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3.98 avg rating — 2,393 ratings
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65

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3.77 avg rating — 5,192 ratings
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66

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4.60 avg rating — 725 ratings
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67

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3.97 avg rating — 99 ratings
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68

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4.11 avg rating — 9,301 ratings
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69

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3.89 avg rating — 339,352 ratings
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70

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4.05 avg rating — 2,881 ratings
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71

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3.88 avg rating — 31,489 ratings
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72

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3.34 avg rating — 59 ratings
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73

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4.01 avg rating — 9,716 ratings
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74

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4.16 avg rating — 1,141 ratings
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75

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4.12 avg rating — 3,791,701 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 711,919 ratings
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77

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3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings
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78

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3.83 avg rating — 281,747 ratings
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79

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3.97 avg rating — 171 ratings
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80

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4.17 avg rating — 89 ratings
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81

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3.81 avg rating — 1,454 ratings
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82

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4.33 avg rating — 15 ratings
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83

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3.99 avg rating — 16,333 ratings
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84

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4.51 avg rating — 119 ratings
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85

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3.96 avg rating — 332,352 ratings
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86

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4.14 avg rating — 120,764 ratings
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87

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4.13 avg rating — 7,811 ratings
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88

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4.05 avg rating — 9,380 ratings
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89

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3.85 avg rating — 724 ratings
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90

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4.23 avg rating — 1,796 ratings
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91

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4.02 avg rating — 2,780 ratings
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91

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4.02 avg rating — 468 ratings
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93

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3.59 avg rating — 18,149 ratings
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94

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3.35 avg rating — 5,785 ratings
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95

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3.78 avg rating — 12,810 ratings
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96

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4.21 avg rating — 246 ratings
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97

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4.09 avg rating — 4,058 ratings
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98

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3.80 avg rating — 1,011 ratings
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99

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3.47 avg rating — 2,880 ratings
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100

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3.40 avg rating — 267 ratings
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160 books · 110 voters · list created August 15th, 2009 by Jacobmartin (votes) .
63 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Jacobmartin (new)

Jacobmartin Ok, I've added seven of my favorite dangerous books, but there's so many more I haven't even mentioned! Please feel free to add more of your own!


message 2: by John (new)

John Burns No offence but this is a stupid idea for a list.

Exactly what is a dangerous idea? Surely any idea becomes dangerous when it's misapplied? An idea is only as dangerous as the idiots who get ahold of it.


message 3: by Jacobmartin (new)

Jacobmartin Killthepopular wrote: "No offence but this is a stupid idea for a list.

Exactly what is a dangerous idea? Surely any idea becomes dangerous when it's misapplied? An idea is only as dangerous as the idiots who get ahol..."


The idea came to me as there was a festival in Sydney called "The Festival of Dangerous Ideas" or something. The list here's not really meant to class ideas as so much completely dangerous, but a list of books that have been considered dangerous at some time or another. Whether or not they're dangerous now is not the issue, the issue is the history of ideas that may have been considered dangerous at some point.

If you can find any particularly good examples of literature that has both been called dangerous and has some literary implications for the world since, I suggest you add them to this list, which is far from complete. Remember, it's not about whether YOU think an idea is dangerous, it's about books that have been challenged as dangerous at some point in history.




message 4: by John (last edited Aug 16, 2009 02:25PM) (new)

John Burns Surely these parameters account for 99% of classic novels ever published?

Nearly every good book ever published for example has been banned in one american school or another because of the perceived affect it will have on the students...


message 5: by Greyweather (last edited Aug 16, 2009 07:04PM) (new)

Greyweather Killthepopular wrote: "Surely these parameters account for 99% of classic novels ever published?"

Not to mention:
Every religious text, book about religion, book about atheism, or philosophy book
Every science book
Every history book
Every book of political science or political theory
Every book on psychology or sociology
Every book about about race, gender, sexual orientation (or hell, sex of any kind)
And the list just goes on and on...


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