prohibited books

Contains a series of alphabetically arranged essays that describe one hundred books that have been banned because of language, racial characterization, or depiction of other social differences that their challengers have viewed as harmful to readers.

Examines the history of book banning and explores why some people might want to censor certain books.

Contains an alphabetical listing of 100 books that have been the target of religious censorship, covering the full range of history from biblical times through the twentieth century.

Contains a series of alphabetically arranged essays that describe 105 books that have been banned for political reasons, each providing a summary of the text, a censorship history, and a list of resources for further reading.

Provides a framework for understanding censorship and the protections guaranteed to us through the first amendment. Interpretations of the uniquely American notion of freedom of expression - and our freedom to read what we choose - are supplemented by straightforward, easily accessible information that will inspire further exploration.

From the time of Plato, through the introduction of the printing press, Victorian morality, and the burning of the books in Nazi Germany, to the Family Friendly Libraries movement, faith, politics, and fear seem to have permeated the right to free expression.

In May 1956, an Italian publishing scout visited Russia's greatest living poet, Boris Pasternak. He left carrying the original manuscript of Dr. Zhivago. Pasternak believed his novel was unlikely ever to be published in the Soviet Union, where the authorities regarded it as an irredeemable assault on the 1917 Revolution. But Pasternak thought it stood a chance of being published and read in the West. From Italy it made its way around the world to earn Pasternak the 1958 Pulitzer Prize in Literature. Copies were sold in Moscow and Leningrad on the Black Market and when Pasternak died in 1960 in Russia his funeral was attended by thousands of admirers who defied their government to bid him farewell.

Iku Kasahara questions her involvement in the Library Forces after a skirmish at her hometown art museum gets several ranking officers severely injured. Meanwhile, Iku's relationship with her direct supervisor, Dojo, deepens, and their long-discussed tea date begins to sound more like a romantic liason.

Iku and her Library Forces team defend freedom of speech when the Media Betterment Committee tries to censor an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and Iku's parents learn of her secret life in the Library Forces.

Iku finds her hopes for Valentine's Day ruined when her crush, Dojo, receives a box of chocolates from an admirer, while Shibazaki meets a suitor and Hikaru thinks he is being followed.