Books deemed “anti-establishment,” “inflammatory,” “corrupt,” and “vulgar” have been censored or banned by governments, libraries, and schools worldwide. Religion and governments are main reasons for book bans. The American Library Association works to raise awareness of banned books. The top ten banned books in the US include Scary Stories, Harry Potter, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Since the beginning of the written word, books and authors that have been deemed “anti-establishment,” “inflammatory,” “corrupt,” and “vulgar” have been censored or banned by governments, libraries, and schools around the world. Even democratic countries with constitutionally protected free speech, such as the United States, have their own lists of frequently banned books. Banned books exist for many reasons: oppressive governments, theocracies, and protective parents and teachers. While the reasons behind the book ban may be as repugnant as suppressing free thought and healthy debate, or as seemingly innocent as a concerned parent, history has shown that where there is literature and expression through writing, there is censorship. .
Religion is perhaps one of the main reasons books are banned today and throughout history. The Bible and the Koran, arguably the most popular books of all time, are two of the most frequently banned books. Even today, some countries prohibit or try to control the use of the Bible. Many religious institutions, such as the Catholic Church, have banned books that are likely to arouse dissent and challenge doctrine.
Governments have long sought to control what the public reads in the interest of maintaining control. Classic works such as Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man and Jack London’s Call of the Wild have been banned for their “subversive” and “radical” beliefs. For centuries, governments have been keenly interested in defining and regulating their own version of obscenity, which has resulted in many book challenges as a result. DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, Voltaire’s Candide, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were all banned for material that was “obscene” or “ obscene”.
While book bans continue today around the world, and even in the United States, the government has a much less active role in banning books. Most libraries will either continue to carry banned books or suffer a loss of funding. Individual school districts may choose to remove certain books from their curriculum either because of the school board’s choice or because of parental pressure. Parents form much of the impetus behind banning specific books, largely due to their desire to protect their child from what they perceive as sexually or criminally corrupted material in books.
Several agencies, such as the American Library Association (ALA), work to raise awareness of banned books and ensure that these books are still available to the population for reading if they choose. While for the most part, their position is that while parents have the right to decide what is appropriate for their child, government agencies should not decide and should not prevent access to these books, no matter what the rationale. behind.
The following is a list of the top ten banned books in the U.S. There are many sites that include a list of the top 100 currently banned books and previously banned books. Several beloved classics, such as JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Maurice Sendak’s In the Night’s Kitchen, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, A Light in Roald Dahl’s the Attic and James and the Giant Peach don’t make this list, but they are among the most banned books of the past.
Most currently banned books:
Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
Michael Willhoite’s Dad’s Roommate
I Know Why Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird Sings
Robert Cormier’s Chocolate War
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Serie) at JK Rowling
Forever di Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia di Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
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