What first comes to mind when you think of book banning? You may think of the infamous burnings that took place in 1933 Nazi Germany where over 25,000 books were burned for representing an “Un-German Spirit”. In this period of time, numerous blacklisted Jewish, German, and American authors had their works burned for views opposing the dictatorship. Now highly regarded figures like Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein were banned across Germany. While this is one of the most severe instances of book banning, there is a history of censorship that far precedes it and lives on to this day.
The Empty Library in Berlin serves as a memorial to the book burnings that occurred on May 10, 1933. I was able to visit the memorial on a trip over the summer.
According to Columbia University, book banning can be dated back long before the Hitler regime. While you may think of Shakespeare as the core of your High School English curriculum, many of the playwright’s works have been criticized for themes of sexuality and violence throughout history. In 1818, English physician Thomas Bowdler created a censored version of a collection of Shakespeare pieces. His work removed the majority of the original content changing words like “God!” to “Heavens!” and rewriting Ophelia’s suicide as accidental drowning. Created to be family friendly, the collection altered Shakepear’s pieces to an extent where the story no longer held the same meaning.
Considered to be the first book ban in the United States, the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was banned in southern states in 1852, for its abolitionist views and for arousing debate on slavery. While the most notable example of book bans at this time, numerous other texts were banned and burned for promoting anti-slavery ideals. Citizens were imprisoned for the possession of such materials.
The United States is no stranger to book bans and censorship. Despite the First Amendment, Columbia University states that, “school boards often make decisions that prioritize “community values” first and access to information second” when regarding what content should be available to students. One of the most notable instances where a school’s role in censorship was questioned, was in the 1982 Supreme Court Case Island Trees School District v. Pico. When the school board received parental complaints regarding “permissive” library books, works like Slaughterhouse-Five and Langston Hughes’s Best Short Stories by Negro Writers were banned for being anti-American and anti-Chirstian. Pico, a student in the district, debated that this decision was made for a group’s moral values and not because the content lacked educational value. The case was later brought to the Supreme Court and was ruled that the government “cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of that speech”. While in this specific case, book bans were denied, there is still much confusion on the extent to which a school can censor texts.
While book banning seems like something from the past, “the number of book challenges increased by 65% in 2023”. Various arguments have been made to rationalize these bans. From Harry Potter promoting paganism, C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia touching on Christian ideals, or Fahrenheit 451 questioning government authority. Today, much like in the past, it is minority representation that is primarily being banned. Books about LGBTQ+ communities and POC voices are often the target of censorship. Banned Book Week has become an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and to raise awareness of current day censorship. Despite activism from librarians, journalists, students, etc, book banning has yet to be resolved.
When looking through the world history of censorship, it really comes down to political propaganda. Whether it’s fantasy, religion, educational, or almost any genre, if a book challenges the political or societal norm, it is deemed dangerous. Despite our freedom to speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition, the lines are blurry when it comes to the banning of books. Looking at propaganda and persuasion techniques, it is clear that often the device of Card-Stacking is used to skew the public’s judgement of texts. Throughout history, world leaders and governments have used one sided stories and opinions to enact censorship.
Whether from political leaders, school boards, parent committees, or religious groups, almost anyone can persuade and manipulate to dissolve public information. While there is often truth to opposing arguments like the dangers of explicit language or sexual content, it is important that books be accessible to the public. This allows for new ideas, growth, and healthy discourse to be made. It becomes dangerous when institutions use persuasive techniques to falter understanding and growth.