1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain (1884)
A year after its publication, Huck Finn was
called “trash and suitable only for the
slums.” Many opinions appear not to have
changed. Its suitability has come back under
fire immensely in the past twenty years.
Challenged or banned in twenty-six states
because of the use of the word “nigger”
throughout the book. In 2008 the book was
retained in Connecticut with the requirement
that teachers attend race sensitivity seminars
before reading the book.
2. Moby Dick
by Herman Melville (1851)
Was it the whale semen? The
latent homoeroticism? In 1996
a Texas school district banned
the book from its AP English
lists because it conflicted with
their community values. We’re
guessing it was the whale
semen.
3. The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck (1939)
Kern County, California has the great
honor both of being the setting of
Steinbeck’s novel and being the first
place where it was banned (1939).
Objections to profanity—especially
goddamn and the like—and sexual
references continued from then into the
1990s.
A work with international banning
appeal: the book was barred in Ireland in
the 50s and a group of booksellers in
Turkey were taken to court for “spreading
propaganda” in 1973.
4. The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger (1951)
Oh, Young Holden, favorite
child of the censor.
Constantly removed from
classrooms and school
libraries because it is
“unacceptable,” “obscene,”
“blasphemous,” “negative,”
“foul,” “filthy,” and
“undermines morality.”
And Holden always thought
“people never notice
anything.”
5. Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury (1953)
How much would it cost to get
my hands on an expurgated
version of this book from Venado
Middle school in Irvine, CA in
which all the “hells” and “damns”
were blacked out? Hello, eBay?
Another complaint said the book
went against objectors religious
beliefs.
6. Howl and other Poems
by Allen Ginsberg (1956)
Following in the footsteps of
other “Shaping America”
book Leaves of Grass by
Walt Whitman, Allen
Ginsberg’s boundary-
pushing poetic works were
challenged because of
descriptions of homosexual
acts.
7. Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert E. Heinlein (1961)
The book was actually
retained after a 2003 challenge
in Mercedes, TX to the book’s
adult themes. However,
parents were subsequently
given more control over what
their child was assigned to
read in class.
8. In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote (1966)
The subject of controversy in an
AP English class in Savannah, GA
after a parent complained about
sex, violence and profanity.
Banned but brought back.
9. Our Bodies, Ourselves
by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (1971)
BODIES! LADIES!
VAGINAS! (apologies,
Michigan)
Challenges ran from the book’s
publication into the mid-80s. One
Public Library lodged it
“promotes homosexuality and
perversion.”
Please, people, this is mixed
company!
