Battle of the Books: Literary Censorship in the Public Schools 1950-1985
Written: Sep 27 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Comprehensive list of twenty years of 'banned books', interesting to browse, compare to today's.
Cons: Quite dated, but still some good analysis of censorship and fighting against it.
The Bottom Line: Important historical perspective on the phenomenon of censorship and how to better address it in your own life and your family's life.
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| sleeper54's Full Review: Lee Burress - Battle of the Books: Literary Censor... |
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"This book must be regarded as an interim report, since it is likely that the issues considered here are not going to be resolved in the near future. As the preceding discussion has suggested, the critics of the schools are well organized, have substantial funds, and are very persistent; in all probability, these issues will continue to concern this society for a long time."
When one is in the middle of a long journey, it can be helpful to pause, take a rest, look back down the path already traveled. Perhaps that short break to reflect on the journey might make you realize how far you have come. Or perhaps help you realize how far you have yet to go before you sleep.
Battle of the Books: Literary Censorship in the Public Schools 1950-1985 is one such pause, one such stopping point, on the trail of book censorship and book banning.
The late Lee Burress, then a teacher at the College of Emporia, first challenged censorship and book bannings when he opposed the findings and recommendations of the Gathings Committee.
The Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials, the Gathings Committee, a formal House Congressional committee, circa late 1952, was formed ". . .because of the belief that the cheap paperback books which had become available were a serious moral threat to the Republic."
The 'evil paperback book'. Almost sounds silly today.
The same logic that lead this committee to propose censorship based on ill-formed definitions of obscenity has rippled through our culture to this very day.
By 1985 Lee Burress was an English professor and ". . .advocate for intellectual freedom..." at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Over the years he conducted numerous surveys of public school and university libraries in Wisconsin and across the nation.
These survey results constitute more than half of the content of Battle of the Books: .... An appendix lists over nine hundred instances of censorship challenges to hundreds of poems, stories, plays, and books. It is a chilling twenty-year summary of individual protests about a particular word or thought or book.
Much of the rest of the book discusses the causes of censorship attempts, types of works that elicited such challenges, twelve "reasons for the increase in censorship" that Burress noted in 1985 (and seem logical to me, today), and the role of "secular humanism" and "the Left" in censorship.
The role of "publishers as censors", by preemptively removing possibly offensive words/material from books, is discussed in detail. It is chilling to read of a publisher making substantial alterations to Fahrenheit 451, a book that prophetically warns of the coming of a day ". . .when the books were empty and the minds shut and the libraries closed forever."
The Bottom Line
Battle of the Books: Literary Censorship in the Public Schools 1950-1985 is a faded snapshot pulled from that shoebox in the back of the closet. It seems quaint, like that picture from your Dad's high school yearbook, or your Mom's Senior Prom pictures.
But just as those scenes are recreated year after year, even into your own life, and someday into your child's life . . .so, seemingly, are the calls to ban these, and many more, horrible books.
It is perhaps important to have a historical perspective of this phenomenon so you might better address it in your own life and your family's life. Ask your local library to dust this one off and make it available for you to read. I am sure you will find it an interesting read in its own special way.
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This review is an entry to fellow Epinions user pestyside's "Read Banned Books and Celebrate—Banned Books Write-Off". Check out the invitation and read other reviews related to book banning and censorship.
Also check the URL below to find the Explore Banned Books Week page at the American Library Association, ALA, website.
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Certified Lean-n-mean review.
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"Just the facts, ma'am"
Title: Battle of the Books: Literary Censorship in the Public Schools 1950-1985
Author: Lee Burress
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Copyright: 1989 by Lee Burress
Pages: 395
ISBN #: 0810821516
Ages recommended: Adult
Reference websites:
Explore Banned Books Week
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/explorebbw.htm
The Education of an Anti-Censor, a protégé
of Lee Burress
http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/119420.htm
Recommended:
Yes
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sleeper54
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