Books are being banned all across the world, this is nothing new. In 1637, in Quincy, Massachusetts, Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan, or New Canaan, was the first book to ever be banned due to a harsh critique of Puritan customs and power structures. The book outlines and details the religions of Indigenous people and how things within and around the culture have been exploited by white settlers. By 1644, the Puritan-dominated Parliament ordered books deemed to be offensive or opposing their beliefs, destroyed. Today, the banning of books has come to an exponential number. Between 2023 and 2024, over 4,000 books were banned, censoring 2,662 authors, 195 illustrators, 13 translators, and 2,877 creatives. When it comes to literature, there are many reasons why the work gets banned, or in quite a few cases, censored, such as violence, sexual content, religious viewpoints or reasons, political bias, racism, and LGBTQ+ content.
Below is a list of banned and censored books you should know about and read.
George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian vision of a future where society is declining and a totalitarian government controls the country with manipulation and threats. Any citizens who believe differently than the government are punished or brainwashed into following the beliefs of those in control. Throughout the novel, the looming presence of Big Brother, the government leader, watches over the people of Oceania with cameras and censors the media that they consume. Nothing is private for the citizens. While 1984 is an exceptional dystopian novel, parents grew concerned about the contents of the book. In 1981 the book was banned in Jackson County, Florida for being “pro-communist and containing sexual content.” Russia banned the book seven years later, stating that it was “anti-communist” and parallels between the government in the novel and the Soviet authorities were becoming more apparent.
In 1891, Oscar Wilde distributed his manuscript of The Picture of Dorian Gray to Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine hoping to warn American readers of aestheticism and its negative impacts on morality when it’s uncontrolled. The publishing companies however didn’t like most of the content in the short novel. Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine edited over 500 words from the book without Wilde’s knowledge because it was “vulgar” and “unclean.” Once the novel was published, Wilde received heavy criticism for the character’s immoral lifestyle, horror-ish gore, and LGBTQ+ and sexual undertones. The book has been banned or restricted in several school districts and Catholic schools in the United States and Canada. It wasn’t until 120 years later that an uncensored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was released.
The popular children’s author Dr. Seuss, has faced many book bans throughout the years. However, his books Green Eggs and Ham, and The Lorax have faced the most ridiculous reasonings. In 1965, Maoist China banned Green Eggs and Ham because the story portrayed “early signs of Marxism.” China suppressed and censored the book until 1991 when the ban was lifted after Dr. Seuss’ death. Several years later in the early 90s, California briefly banned the book because school districts claimed it “promoted a seductive homosexual agenda.” In 1989, prior to the events of Green Eggs and Ham, Californian parents were concerned about The Lorax. At the time one of California’s largest industries was logging. Parents feared that public schools were using the book to ”brainwash” their children and that they would want to eliminate the logging industry. Laytonville, California banned The Lorax from all public schools in the district, challenging the book for criminalizing logging industries despite the book being about the negative impacts of environmental degradation.
The Holy Bible has been a controversial book for many centuries. Violence, incest, sexual content, genocide, and slavery within The Holy Bible have many parents concerned for their child’s well-being, and many find that the use or the holding of The Bible in public schools is an infringement on freedom of religion. In 1963, the Warren Supreme Court banned all versions of The Holy Bible and prayer in public schools, voting that schools should stay neutral about religion. Since then, many other public school districts have removed The Bible from school libraries, but students aren’t restricted from bringing their own. Not only have school districts banned the book, but many versions have removed any graphic details and indecorous information to protect the readers. The United States isn’t the only country to do this. Afghanistan, North Korea, and 50 other countries have made The Bible illegal, forbidding travelers from bringing anything not related to the country’s national religion. Although The Holy Bible is banned in Saudi Arabia, the practice of another religion is allowed so long as the person is in private.
