Book Banning: The Importance of Controversial Texts
Although Banned Books Week–an annual week-long celebration of the freedom to read–already occurred in September, it is always relevant to think about issues of censorship and book banning, both in the United States and countries around the world. While banning books might seem like a practice of the past–challenged by modern, progressive ideas of intellectual expression–hundred of complaints and challenges to different titles (over 464 in 2012) are reported by the American Library Association each year. Over 11,000 books have…