Review of “Banned Books: The World’s Most Controversial Books, Past and Present”

The Stuff

This is a survey of approximately one hundred books that have been banned or challenged, beginning with the fourteenth-century work, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, and ending with the 2021 book by Chinese author Ai Weiwei, 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.

The entries are arranged chronologically. One or two pages are dedicated to each book, and the text, by and large, remains neutral in tone.

For example, the description of the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom reads:

The [unfinished] novel follows four men who torture, rape, and murder a group of children, aged 12-15, over the course of four months (the 120 days of the title).

Most of the books run afoul of authorities for sexual content, profanity, or for challenging the religious or civic powers that be. The most recent books raise hackles for racial justice, gay, or trans content.

The book also describes the struggles to censor. In general, there were short-term victories in democracies, but the books reappear. In totalitarian regimes, it can take decades. For example, Dr. Zhivago was first published in Italy in 1957 but not in the Soviet Union until 1988 under Mikhail Gorbachev. It was considered a “heinous calumny”against the achievements of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Thoughts:

What surprised me when I first picked up this book at the library was how many of these “banned” books I’d read—The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Diary of Anne Frank, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, to name a few.

Long ago and far away, when I was in high school, one of the board members tried to get The Diary of Anne Frank removed from the library. I’d read it by this time, but I read it again to see if I’d missed anything. He claimed there was something in it about masturbation (there isn’t)

The whole affair left my young and impressionable self with the notion that removing books from school libraries is silly—readily available books, like The Diary of Anne Frank in particular.

The current book shows that tragedy and loss are sometimes involved in book banning. I support parents being able to choose what their children read. I’m less enthusiastic about any one set of parents choosing what the kids down the block read.

On the other hand, I support Amazon’s decision not to sell The Turner Diaries. The Turner Diaries is a work of fiction that advocates eliminating non-white people and a violent overthrow of the government to establish a white people’s utopia to spread wisdom and benevolence (like the wisdom and benevolence they used to bring about that utopia?). It has inspired real-life violence and murder, including the 1984 killing of Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, and the 1999 London Nail Bombings.

I have not and do not intend to read The Turner Diaries—not because I’m afraid it will send me into a wave of right-wing extremist violence, but frankly, because I just don’t need to spend my time with that shit.

But I’ve gone off on a tangent. About the book: little tidbits delivered with minimum drama. I think I’ll start reading some of the more recent books it mentions: Persepolis, The Kite Runner, The Bastard of Istanbul, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Melissa (formerly George), The Hate U Give, Killing Commendatore, I Hate Men, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, This is a Swedish Tiger, and 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.

DK Publishers, who put out the book without an author’s name, is known for illustrated adult and children’s hardcover books, often on travel. This book fits that mold.

I enjoyed it. While much more could be said about each book, it is only a quick survey. This was fun, bringing memories and introducing things I didn’t know.


Title: Banned Books: The World’s Most Controversial Books, Past and Present
Publisher:  DK Books
First published: 2022