Banned Books Week

John Scopes went on trial for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution; nearly 70 years later, an Illinois English teacher was confronted by protesters who demanded that J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye "not be assigned for reading"—adding that their demand should not be interpreted as "censorship or banning books." Whatever it’s called, it means that books are under attack—from "Cinderella" to Huckleberry Finn. This program looks at how teachers can prepare themselves against attack, and looks at those who, in the name of religion or equality or whatever cause, are aiming the censor’s gun at teachers and books.

THE BOOK THAT SHOOK THE WORLD is a historical essay film that delves into the controversy and uproar brought about by the publication in Australia and in Europe of The Little Red Schoolbook by Soren Hansen and Jesper Jensen, where in many countries it was banned while also looking at the repressive censorship laws Australia lived under in the sixties and early seventies.

This program discusses censorship from the viewpoints of authors, students, educators, and society. It considers common bases for censorship and features a debate between pro-censorship and anti-censorship points of view.

This video presents a condensed version of a seminar that was given at the 1982 conference of the National School Boards Association. Among the topics discussed are selection, utilization, and removal of school library materials and whether students have the constitutional right to read.

Explores the ways in which teachers can authenticate the use of censored books in the classroom. Topics of discussion include the importance of keeping up-to-date on a book’s censorship status, some reasons why teachers may want to use a banned book and the ways in which parents and community organizations can help teachers change public attitudes about banned books.

Battles have erupted at schools, school boards and library meetings across the country as parents, lawmakers and advocacy groups are debating books. The American Library Association documented more than 1,200 demands to censor books and resources last year, the highest since it started collecting data 20 years ago. Jeffrey Brown discussed more with the group's director, Deborah Caldwell-Stone.

Authors Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasrin know about severe censorship firsthand. In this program, Suanne Kelman, of Ryerson University, opens the subject of censoring in literature using Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Diviners, and the Harry Potter series—all banned at one time or another or under threat of banning—as examples. Expanding on the theme, Rushdie (The Satanic Verses) then talks about fundamentalist Muslim sensibilities, living under a fatwa, and the writer’s role in the world, while Nasrin (Lajja) discusses patriarchal oppression of women, her escape from Bangladesh, and life in exile.