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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8

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9

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10

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11

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4.03 avg rating — 1,635,703 ratings
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12

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3.71 avg rating — 72,966 ratings
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13

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3.18 avg rating — 44,235 ratings
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14

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3.94 avg rating — 2,562,988 ratings
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15

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4.30 avg rating — 55,479 ratings
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16

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3.88 avg rating — 434,259 ratings
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17

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4.35 avg rating — 1,529,493 ratings
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18

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4.06 avg rating — 385,215 ratings
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19

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4.23 avg rating — 25,289 ratings
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20

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3.69 avg rating — 410,330 ratings
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21

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4.35 avg rating — 10,145,197 ratings
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22

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3.92 avg rating — 329,266 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 120,431 ratings
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24

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4.37 avg rating — 481,029 ratings
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25

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4.09 avg rating — 271,193 ratings
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26

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4.43 avg rating — 115 ratings
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26

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4.29 avg rating — 212 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 — 3,559 ratings
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30

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4.36 avg rating — 157,875 ratings
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31

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3.87 avg rating — 38,873 ratings
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32

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3.78 avg rating — 156,758 ratings
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33

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3.88 avg rating — 1,026,562 ratings
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34

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4.01 avg rating — 301,471 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 — 33,771 ratings
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37

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3.92 avg rating — 11,199 ratings
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38

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3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings
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39

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3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings
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40

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4.32 avg rating — 432,964 ratings
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40

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4.17 avg rating — 253,406 ratings
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42

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4.36 avg rating — 4,269,482 ratings
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43

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3.74 avg rating — 7,447 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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3.83 avg rating — 4,884 ratings
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46

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4.09 avg rating — 31,840 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 — 16,000 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 — 6,167 ratings
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52

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3.95 avg rating — 259,229 ratings
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53

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3.89 avg rating — 26,166 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 — 1,772,951 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 — 2,353 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 — 2,898 ratings
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62

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3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings
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63

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4.15 avg rating — 2,511,458 ratings
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64

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3.98 avg rating — 2,416 ratings
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65

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3.77 avg rating — 5,202 ratings
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66

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4.60 avg rating — 726 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 — 9,363 ratings
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69

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3.89 avg rating — 340,129 ratings
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70

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4.05 avg rating — 2,898 ratings
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71

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3.88 avg rating — 31,689 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 — 9,845 ratings
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74

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4.16 avg rating — 1,144 ratings
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75

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4.12 avg rating — 3,819,228 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 713,311 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 — 282,436 ratings
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79

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3.98 avg rating — 172 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 — 1,459 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 — 16,517 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 — 335,308 ratings
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86

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4.13 avg rating — 121,537 ratings
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87

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4.13 avg rating — 7,823 ratings
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88

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4.05 avg rating — 9,403 ratings
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89

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3.85 avg rating — 726 ratings
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90

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4.23 avg rating — 1,797 ratings
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91

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4.02 avg rating — 2,811 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 — 18,254 ratings
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94

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3.35 avg rating — 5,823 ratings
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95

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3.78 avg rating — 12,931 ratings
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96

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4.20 avg rating — 249 ratings
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97

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4.09 avg rating — 4,092 ratings
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98

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3.80 avg rating — 1,014 ratings
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99

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3.47 avg rating — 2,905 ratings
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100

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3.41 avg rating — 269 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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