In this day of social intergration, national well being for all men, and integration of ethnic groups, there is still places in the country that take the law into their own hands, and try to tell people what they should or should not do. Namely: what is considered good for them to read. The First Amendment rights guarantees 'We The People' the right of free speech, uncensured free press, and peaceable assembly by the masses. But, Although these rights were put down by our forefathers to safeguard our Constitutional Rights as a Nation, they apparently do not stop groups, or organizations from banning books written by authors 'THEY', (whomever 'they' may be at the time) from censureship of written materials. Censureship of such things as: If it has too much sexual content: it is censured and considered pornographic. If it has too many political views: it is censured and considered politically incorrect for not being middle-of-the-road, and unpartisan. If it contains views that the church considers irreligious: it is censured for having non-church snactioned overtones; such as The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Censured by the church for having adulterous overtones.
Apparently, just because a book is written, it may not stand the test of time, but, it may not stand the test of censureship either. Every year The American Library Association; the oldest and largest library association in the world; celebrates our Founding Fathers First Amendment rights, by spotlighting our countries districts attempts at banning books in our libraries and schools.
The First Amendment Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Although these laws were made so freedom of speech, and expression, can be heard by the people, it does not stop state governments or organizations from banning them in their presence. This practice has been going on for years. And if it wasn't for the patience, and understanding, of teachers, politicians with forethought, and the audacity of many parents across the country, these organizations and govenments across the United States would ban anything they felt wasn't in THEIR interest; not the peoples.
Many well known and well beloved books by WORLD renowned authors have been banned, or attempted to be banned. Although some of the titles have actually been barred from public and school libraries, not all have made the list. Here is just a small sample:
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN - 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It depicts the realities of slavery, while asserting thet Christian Love can overcome something as horrible, freightening, and demeaning as enslavement of another human being.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - 1929 by Erich Marie Remarque. This novel depicts the extreme emotional and physical traumas of War, seen through the eyes of the German forces of WWI.
A FAREWELL TO ARMS - 1929 by Ernest Hemingway. It is a semi auto-biographical novel of Hemingway and his relationship with Agnes von Kurowski during WWI. The main character is based on Hemingway himself.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH - 1939 by John Steinbeck, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. It is the story of sharecroppers driven out of their Oklahoma homes during the Great Depresson, because of drought and economic harships. The book is synonymous with the Great Dust Bowl and the Depression era of the US.
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS - 1940 by Ernest Hemingway. It tells the story of a young American during the Spanish Civil War, who is recruited to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines.
ANIMAL FARM - 1945 by George Orwell. A novella which relates events leading up to and during the STALIN era of WWII.
1984 - 1949 by George Orwell. It tell the story of a totalitarian regime of a Socialist Party.
DR. ZHIVAGO - 1957 by Boris Pasternak. It tells the story of a man torn between 2 women. It is set during the Russian Revolution of 1917.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE - 1969 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It is an anti-war science fiction novel, dealing with war (WWII) and time travel.
IN THE SPIRIT OF CRAZY HORSE - 1983 by Peter Matthiessen. It focuses on US and Native American (Sioux) relations during the 1970's; specifically, a murder trial of 2 FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975.
THE HARRY POTTER series - 1997-2007 by J.K. Rowling. This series is based on the life of one Harry Potter, who finds out in his eleventh year of life that he is a wizard, and his extraordinary journeys through the halls of academic wizardry in Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
MADAM BOVARY - 1856 by Gustave Flaubert.
ULYSSES - 1922 by James Joyce.
THE SUN ALSO RISES - 1926 by Ernest Hemingway.
TROPIC OF CANCER - 1934 by Henry Miller.
BELOVED - 1987 by Toni Morrison.
JAWS - 1974 by Peter Benchley.
RABBIT RUN - 1960 by John Updike.
FOREVER - 1975 by Judith Blume.
PEYTON PLACE - 1956 by Grace Metallious.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY - 1954 by J.R.R. Tolkien.
THE LORD OF THE FLIES - 1954 by William Golding.
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - 1884 by Mark Twain.
GONE WITH THE WIND - 1936 by Margaret Mitchell.
BRAVE NEW WORLD - 1932 by Aldous Huxley.
CUJO - 1981 by Stephen King.
A THOUSAND ACRES - 1991 by Jane Smiley.
CATCHER IN THE RYE - 1951 by J.D. Salinger.
COLOR PURPLE - 1982 by Alice Walker.
CATCH 22 - 1961 by Joseph Heller.
THE GREAT GATSBY - 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - 1960 by Harper Lee.
AS I LAY DYING - 1930 by William Faulkner.
INVISISBLE MAN - 1952 by Ralph Ellison.
NATIVE SON - 1940 by Richard Wright.
THE CALL OF THE WILD - 1903 by Jack London.
ALL THE KING'S MEN - 1946 by Robert Penn Warren.
THE AWAKENING - 1899 by Kate Chopin.
SATANIC VERSES - 1988 by Salman Rushdie.
SONS AND LOVERS - 1913 by D.H. Lawrence.
TROPIC OF CANCER - 1934 by Henry Miller.
Roland Hegstad, former editor of LIBERTY magazine, 1966, summed up the whole experience of censorship in the United States. "Our forefathers did not erect the wall of seperation because they were irreligious, but because they were religious. They saw the wall of seperation as a wall of protection for both church and state."
No one is forced to either read, or not read, in this country. Let's keep it that way, by using your God given and Constitutional rights, to either open the cover, or keep it closed.
Happy reading!
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