List of books banned by governments

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Many societies have banned certain books. This is a partial list of books which have been banned by some organization at some place and time.

Various scriptures have been banned (and sometimes burned) at several points in history. The Bible, Talmud and the Qur'an have all been subjected to censorship and have been banned in various cities and countries. In Medieval Europe the Catholic Church created a program that lasted until 1948 to deal with dissenting printed opinion; it was called the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Over the years many books based on the scriptures have also been banned, such as Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You, which was banned in Russia for being anti-establishment.

Books that deal with criminal matter have also been subjected to censorship. Small-press titles that have become infamous by being banned include The Anarchist Cookbook, E for Ecstasy, and Hit Man.

In the four-volume series Banned Books published by FactsOnFile in 1998, the volumes were divided by grounds for banning: political, religious, sexual and social. The first three are often cited together as taboo in polite conversation.

Notably, children's books that deal with death or other teenage angst or various crimes, often find themselves banned, perhaps because of parental worries about teenage suicide or copycat crimes. Many publications are targeted on the premise that children would be corrupted by reading them. This fear led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items.

Banning documentation

ALA_2000 is used to denote books that appear on the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 list of the American Library Association (found here) in order to save effort in documenting the bannings. They also list these books, which are noted as ALA_Radcliffe.

ST: Subtitle (usually added if it helps the reader to recognize why book was banned)

ISBN provided if no other encyclopedic information is yet available.

The U.S. Customs office has a history of banning books, more so in the early part of the 20th century

See the Karolides volumes below for extensive lists of banned books.

Almost any "Young adult" or "Children's book" author runs the risk of being banned if "adult" themes or themes that are not strictly optimistic and mainstream are included in the storyline.

A-B

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was banned after publication in 1885 by the Concord Public Library on grounds of it being "more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people." More recently its portrayal of race (including the use of the word nigger) has seen many efforts to remove it from school reading lists in the USA. ALA_2000
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain was banned from the children's section of the Brooklyn, New York public library in 1876, the Denver, Colorado public library in the same year, and was banned by some libraries in the USA due to objections to the "questionable character" of the main character and racism. It was banned by the Brazilian Government in 1937 as part of a crack down on communist and subversive works. ALA_2000
The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine was banned in the UK for blasphemy due to its arguments in favour of Deism and against Christianity. Booksellers and publishers were prosecuted for disseminating it.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was banned in China in 1931 because the animals used the human language.
The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor have been banned or challenged in various American school libraries due to their sexually explicit content. ALA_2000
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque was banned in Nazi Germany and was among the titles set for public burning in 1933.
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez was banned in school districts including Rockford, Illinois (where it was the first book banned) due to its graphic but realistic depiction of life in a street gang. ALA_2000
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was among the American Library Association's list of the most banned books due to its descriptions of violence against women. Also the American National Organization of Women urged members to boycott the book and attempts were made to ban it in Canada due to suspected copycat crimes. ALA_2000
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser was banned in places such as Boston as it "tended to corrupt the morals of youth."
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show was banned by a Mississippi library due to it containing images of Supreme Court Justices' faces on naked bodies. The ban was overturned after only a day due to public outcry. This ban also helped to propel the books sales.
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell which contains instructions for manufacturing explosives and telephone hacking devices was among the ALA's list of the 100 most banned books. ALA_2000
The Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowry is frequently the subject of banning attempts from school libraries who are concerned that the content is not suitable for children. ALA_2000
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor was banned due to obscenity.
Animal Farm by George Orwell was banned in the USSR for anti-communist themes, in some Islamic nations for "religious reasons". It was also banned in the USA for communist material in its introduction, although the book itself was a vicious satire on Stalinism.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank has been banned or challenged for various reasons including being "a real downer."
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden was banned and copies burned due to its depiction of two young girls falling in love. ALA_2000
Another Country by James Baldwin was banned from some schools who considered it pornographic.
Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara was attacked by the Watch and Ward Society due to its vulgarity and comments on ethnic groups.
The Art of Love by Ovid was burned in Florence in 1497. The author was also banished from Rome by Augustus due to the book's subversion of moral reforms.
The Arabian Nights has been frequently banned in Arab countries, the most recent being in Egypt in 1989.
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume was banned in some schools due to its characters' discussion of menstruation and breast development and its perceived anti-Christian themes. Judy Blume is also known as "The most banned author in the U.S.A". ALA_2000
Areopagitica by John Milton, a polemic in defence of free speech was published without licence in England and condemned by Parliament.
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge featured adult themes and homosexual characters. It was listed among the hundred most banned books by the ALA. ALA_2000
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole was banned as it promoted values that some parents disapproved of and considered unsuitable for their children. ALA_2000
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher was banned from a school in Grand Rapids, Michigan (and the teacher who taught it dismissed) for using racist language, although the message of the book itself is resolutely anti-racist. ALA_2000
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin is one of the ALA's hundred most banned books, for "social reasons."
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
The Banditti of the Plains by A. S. Mercer ST: Or the Cattlemen's Invasion of Wyoming in 1892 (The Crowning Infamy of the Ages). It had many copies destroyed on publication due to its eyewitness accounts of illegal activities and the actions of official forces.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath has been challenged for sexual material and condoning an obscene point of view.
Beloved by Toni Morrison has been challenged for its language. ALA_2000
The Biggest Secret and all other books by David Icke are often banned; Indigo Books for sample was forced to take the books out of the shelves
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell was banned in South Africa due to the use of the word 'black' in the title.
Black Boy by Richard Wright was banned in American schools in the seventies for "obscenity" and "instigating hatred between the races."
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin was banned for its portrayal of racial tension.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya was banned for profanity and pagan content. ALA_2000
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause is frequently challenged for being sexually explicit
The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution by Roger Williams was banned on religious grounds
Blubber by Judy Blume Banned for language. Also, the antagonist is never punished. ALA_2000
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison was banned due to its explicit sexual content. ALA_2000
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar was challenged in Nashville due to a scene in which a hammer is inserted into a character's rectum. ALA_2000
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy ALA_2000
Boys of Swithins Hall by Chris Kent teen-aged homoerotica
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was banned in Ireland in 1932 for "centering around negative activity". It's also banned for language. Some saw this book as anti-family and anti-Christian. ALA_2000
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson ALA_2000
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard ISBN 0440412862 ALA_2000
Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer ISBN 0140055932 banned after the Soweto uprising.

C-D

Call of the Wild by Jack London was banned in Italy in 1929 and also in Yugoslavia in 1929.
Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce In 1918, the US War Department told the American Library Association to remove a number of pacifist and "disturbing" books, including Ambrose Bierce's Can Such Things Be? from camp libraries.
Candide by Voltaire 1930, U.S. Customs seized Harvard-bound copies of Candide.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Banned for risque subject matter.)
Carrie by Stephen King ALA_2000
The Case for India by Will Durant See Karolides "political" list.
Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Banned for profanity, sexual references, and that it "undermines morality." Also called blasphemous by some.) ALA_2000
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl was banned from a reference collection at the Boulder, Colorado public library for "espousing a poor philosophy of life."
The Children of Sanchez by Oscar Lewis (Formerly banned in Mexico for political reasons.)
Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz blasphemy
The China-India Border by Alastair Lamb was banned in India for political content.
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (Banned for language.) ALA_2000
The Christian Commonwealth by John Eliot (missionary) was banned and ordered destroyed by the General Court of Massachusetts, May 22, 1661.
Church: Charism and Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church by Leonardo Boff
Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) by Henry David Thoreau target of successful banning efforts by Joseph McCarthy
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel was banned from the Cascade Middle School library at Eugene, Oregon in 1992 for "hardcore graphic sexual content".
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Banned from schools for language.)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker ALA_2000
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Banned for political reasons)
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Formerly banned in the USA on grounds of obscenity and criticisms of Christianity, especially Protestantism.)
Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly ISBN 0064405710 ALA_2000
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz ALA_2000 ST: Superstitions and Other Beliefs
Cujo by Stephen King (Banned for subject matter and language.) ALA_2000
Cunt by Stewart Home (Language)
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen ALA_2000
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Banned in Lebanon after Catholic leaders deemed it offensive to Christianity. Other reasons: historical inaccuracies. But now sold in many languages, including Arabic.)
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite ISBN 1555831184 ALA_2000 (Challenged by religious groups for encouraging homosexuality to children.)
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck ALA_2000
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus, was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1616. It was finally removed from the list in 1835.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
The Dead Zone by Stephen King ALA_2000 (Political reasons)
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (Banned due to its homoerotic theme.)
The Decameron by Boccaccio (Obscenity.)
Deenie by Judy Blume ALA_2000
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin (Sexual themes)
Decent Interval by Frank Snepp ST: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End Told by the Cia's Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin for describing how men origianted from primates
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei was banned by Pope Urban VIII in 1633, as were all other works by Galileo.
Did Six Million Really Die? by Ernst Zündel (Banned for anti-Semetism and Holocaust denial)
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence (banned in some Canadian schools on religious grounds)
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Banned in the USSR for criticisms of the abuses of power by the Bolsheviks.)
Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene ISBN 0553074377 ALA_2000 Teenage story, homosexual man is murdered
Dubliners by James Joyce (Banned in Ireland for language.)

E-G

Earth's Children (series) by Jean M. Auel (Banned for sexual stitches, which were described vividly.) ALA_2000
Eden, Eden, Eden by Pierre Guyotat (banned in France until 1981 for obscenity and graphic violence)
E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, banned in Boston and elsewhere for frank depictions of religion and sex
Encyclopédie, edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Essays by Michel de Montaigne
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney ALA_2000 Child abduction and mention of the cult Hare Krishna
Fade by Robert Cormier ALA_2000
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Copies used in school literature classes were edited to omit the words "hell," "damn," and "abortion," which is ironic because the central theme is censorship.)
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers ALA_2000
The Family by Ed Sanders (banned due to a libel suit by the Process Church of the Final Judgment due to its linking that church with the Manson Family murders)
Family Limitation (a pamphlet) by Margaret Sanger the Comstock Law of 1873 which outlawed as obscene the dissemination of contraceptive information and devices.
Family Secrets by Norma Klein ISBN 0449701956 ALA_2000
Fanny Hill by John Cleland (Banned for obscenity in Massachusetts until 1966.)
The Fat Man (book) by Maurice Gee (1933) ISBN 0689811829 A children's book that was just 'too scary for children'; based in New Zealand during the depression.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (1999) Profanity, violent scenes, explicit love scenes.
Final Exit by Derek Humphry ISBN 0385336535 Documents suicide techniques ALA_2000
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes ALA_2000 Profanity, explicit and "distasteful" love scenes," references to "sex and drinking," See for some specific bans.
Flowers in the Attic by Virginia C. Andrews teenaged incest
Forever by Judy Blume ALA_2000
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor - 17th century woman sleeps her way to the top
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger ALA_Radcliffe (Note: bannings for this book might be for the author rather than the content)
The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian
G.B. Jones (book) edited by Steve LaFreniere lesbian soft-core porn drawings. Copies of the book were seized at the Canadian border and it was officially pronounced "Banned In Canada".
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy ALA_2000
The Giver by Lois Lowry (Banned for violent and sexual themes. Some also felt that euthanasia was not an appropriate subject for children, and yet it received a Newberry Medal) ALA_2000
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis Fiction. Extensive depictions of violence.
The Glass Teat by Harlan Ellison Condemnation of the state of television. Included essays critical of the president and vice-president. The publisher, Ace Pub. Corp. consequently recalled the book (in 1960's), but re-released years later.
Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks writing as 'Anonymous'; ALA_2000 extended account of drug abuse.
The Goats (book) by Brock Cole ISBN 0374425752 ALA_2000 (title for scapegoats) Teenaged social outcasts standed on lake island, then run away from camp personnel.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was banned from English classrooms in the Anaheim, California Union High School District in 1978 for using the word "nigger".
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Banned for language and depictions of migrant life. Also cited as socialist propaganda.) Several months after the book's publication, a St. Louis, MO library ordered 3 copies to be burned for the vulgar words used by its characters. It was also banned in Kansas City and in Oklahoma.
Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine ALA_2000
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson ALA_2000 banned in Albemarle County, Virginia, because it used "curse words and God’s name in vain".
The Group (book) by Mary McCarthy a sexually outspoken depiction of eight Vassar graduates in the 1930s.
Gruppa Finlandija by Pentti Syrjä (Finland, 1986) (banning info not yet found)
Guess What? by Mem Fox ALA_2000 chilren's picture book with a few references to occult (witchcraft)
The Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides a philosophical work harmonising and differentiating Aristotelian philosophy and Jewish theology, circa 1200 A.D.
The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (banned in the USSR for depicting human rights abuses by the Soviet government, particularly in its justice system and prisons.)

H-L

Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam ISBN 068980198X ALA_2000 ABC picture book (targeting 5-year-olds) that makes "I" for icicle-murder
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Banned for references to the occult.)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood ISBN 038549081X ALA_2000
Harmful to Minors by Judith Levine (adolescent sexuality and politics)
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (Banned for references to the occult, especially in conservative circles through the efforts of Michael D. O'Brien and LifeSite.) ALA_2000
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (child witchcraft) ALA_2000
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad for use of the word Nigger and depictions of Graphic Violence
Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman ALA_2000 (lesbianism)
The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World by Nawal El Saadawi (challenges women's traditional roles in Abrahamic religions)
Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors by pseudonymous author Rex Feral (describes assassination techniques)
The Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Arthur R. Butz ST: The Case Against The Presumed Extermination Of European Jewry. ISBN 0-9679856-9-2 (Holocaust revisionism)
Holy Nature: A Celebration of Naturism in Today's Russia by Mikhail Rusinov (Banned for political reasons by Amazon.com on-line at http://www.russiannudistnaturist.com.) ISBN 0966460901
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende ALA_2000 (sexual themes and politics)
The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca (Banned for political reasons.)
Howl by Allen Ginsberg (Banned for obscenity and depictions of drug use)
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell ISBN 0440445450 ALA_2000 (Generic gross-out.)
I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier (Banned because some have felt that the book's complicated structure and pessimistic ending are inappropriate for young people)
Hochzeit der Menschheit by the esoteric author Rudolf John Gorsleben was forbidden by the Amtsgericht Bremen (81b Gs 45/96)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Banned for scenes of incest, profanity, and descriptive pornographic language.) ALA_2000
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (Banned for single illustration of child nudity.) ALA_2000
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen (Banned in the USA for 8 years, critical of FBI investigation of execution of two of its agents by a Native American.)
Infallible? An Inquiry by Hans Küng rejects the doctrine of papal infallibility
The Investigator by Reuben Ship Canadian radio play that lampooned HUAC. Uniformly shunned by USA radio stations throughout the 1950's.
The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad (political satire involving Hitler)
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris ISBN 1564021599 ALA_2000
Jack by A.M. Homes ALA_2000
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl ALA_2000 Cruel adults conveniently killed off.
Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso 15th century story about Crusades
Jenny lives with Eric and Martin by Susanne Bösche
A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence (banned in some Canadian schools on religious grounds)
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo (repressed during World War II due to its pacifist content)
The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy Child murder/suicide.
Juhannus Dances by Hannu Salama (Banned for blasphemy)
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George ALA_2000
Juliette by the Marquis de Sade (Banned for blasphemy, graphic depictions of sex and violence, and political reasons)
July's People by Nadine Gordimer (Banned in its setting, South Africa)
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier ISBN 0440443237 ALA_2000 (uses the word "nigger"?)
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (banned in Chicago and Boston in the early 20th century for political reasons)
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane ALA_2000
Kama Sutra
Kiki's Memoirs by Alice Prin (Kiki de Montparnasse)
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan (plot deals with kidnapping a teacher) ALA_2000
Kill Without Joy!: The Complete How To Kill Book by John Minnery
The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy (Banned in Russia for being anti-establishment.)
King & King by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland (Banned or severely restricted in some United States libraries for its supposedly risqué content, it deals with homosexual themes and affection and is intended for an age 4-8 audience)
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
Land of the Free: A History of the United States by John W. Caughey, John Hope Franklin and Ernest R. May (listed in Karolides "Political" volume)
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence Banned in the UK because of explicit sexual content until a celebrated obscenity trial in 1961
Lajja by Taslima Nasrin (Banned in Bangladesh because its contents might hurt the existing social system and religious sentiments of the people.)
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. (Banned for graphic sexual situations including homosexuality and rape)
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis (Banned for religious reasons)
Lazarillo de Tormes (Banned for religious reasons by the Spanish Inquistion in the 16th century)
Le feu sous la soutane, by Benjamin Sehene (Banned in Rwanda for being divisionist.)
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Banned for religious reasons and homoerotic themes.)
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (Banned for graphic depictions of sex and drugs.)
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Parents believed a scene in the book encouraged children to break dishes in order to avoid washing them) ALA_2000
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman Racial stereotypes. ALA_2000
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (Banned for sexual themes)
Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson (sex, drugs, and religion)
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (Banned by a school district in California for espousing environmentalism and negatively depicting the lumber industry.)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding ALA_2000 (child murder)
Lysistrata by Aristophanes (Banned in the United States for indecency. Banned in parts of Europe for anti-war themes.)

M-R

Macbeth by William Shakespeare (graphic violence and witchcraft)
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert (formerly banned in France for political reasons and sexual content)
Magnum Crimen by Viktor Novak See Jasenovac concentration camp
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis in a town in Minnesota near where it took place
A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe (religious groups have tried to ban the book in Kenyan schools)
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown ISBN 0684864185 gritty autobio of growing up in Harlem, NYC
Marks of Identity by Juan Goytisolo Spanish, openly gay author
Making of a Godol by Nathan Kamenetsky (Mesorah, 2003) (scope of ban is among ultra-Orthodox rabbis)
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (not published till after the authours death due to censorship in Russia)
Maurice by E.M. Forster (homoerotic themes)
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (banned for racist material)
Memoirs of Hecate County by Edmund Wilson Because of the frankly sexual nature of the story "The Princess with the Golden Hair," the book was suppressed on obscenity charges until 1959, at which time Wilson published a revised edition.
Mephisto by Klaus Mann
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (anti-Semitism)
Les Meditations Metaphysiques by Rene Descartes
Meyebela, My Bengali Girlhood by Taslima Nasrin (Banned in Bangladesh because "its contents might hurt the existing social system and religious sentiments of the people.")
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (sexual situations)
The Monk by Matthew Lewis (sexual situations, blasphemy)
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole ISBN 0811813193 ALA_2000
Mountain Wreath by Petar II Petrović Njegoš
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier ISBN 059042792X ALA_2000
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara banned because it contained the word "bitch" referring to a female dog?
My Secret Life by 'Walter'
The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS by Michael Fumento
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (drug use, homosexuality)
Native Son by Richard Wright ALA_2000 (violence and rape)
Nemesis File by Paul Bruce about SAS role in Northern Ireland still banned in Britain
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein ISBN 0060012730 ALA_2000
The Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther (Banned for Heresy against the Catholic Church)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ALA_2000
Oil! by Upton Sinclair
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer ISBN 0440466334 ALA_2000 (child guilt over accidental child death)
On the Infinite Universe and Worlds by Giordano Bruno
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade (formerly banned in many countries, including France, Great Britain and the USA, for its depictions of graphic sex and violence)
Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano an indictment of the exploitation of Latin America by foreign powers
Ordinary People by Judith Guest (teenaged suicide) ALA_2000
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (Banned for illustrating the concept of evolution.)
The Other Glass Teat by Harlan Ellison See The Glass Teat (critical of the state television)
Our Friend The King by Gilles Perrault (This biography of Hassan II of Morocco was banned in Morocco for its less than flattering portrait of the king.)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Challenged in South Milwaukee because "drug and alcohol abuse was common" in the novels and "virtually all the characters were from broken homes.") ALA_2000
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Pernkopf's Anatomy by Eduard Pernkopf ISBN 0683068547 (nudity; presents results of medical research, including vivisections, performed on nonconsenting prisoners)
Peter Pan Racism, and on charges of promoting Homosexuality, drug use and miscreantism.
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (sexual themes)
Philosophy in the Bedroom by the Marquis de Sade explicit sexuality, violence, blasphemy
The Pigman by Paul Zindel ALA_2000
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett ALA_2000 explicit sexuality, including a rape scene.
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth themes of sexual desire and sexual frustration
The Poor Man's James Bond
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (Banned for political reasons.)
Private Parts by Howard Stern ALA_2000
The Provincial Letters by Blaise Pascal attack on casuistry (religious logic at that time)
The Qu'ran: The Early Revelations by Michael Anthony Sells ISBN 1883991269 Deals with early suras of Koran, some negated by later suras, hence the controversy
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
The Rainbow series by Alex Sanchez
The Red and the Black by Stendhal banned for political reasons
Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone by Immanuel Kant
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine was banned in the UK and its author prosecuted for treason due to its sedititious content
The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis (sexuality)
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher ALA_2000

S-Z

Sanctuary by William Faulkner (banned for sexuality and violence)
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (banned in Muslim countries for blasphemy, banned in parts of India for political reasons.)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (banned for religious reasons)
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz ScaryStories ALA_2000
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Sex by Madonna (Pornographic) ALA_2000
Sex Education by Jenny Davis ISBN 0531057569 (teen murdered by adult) ALA_2000
Sex for One: The Joy of Self-Loving by Betty Dodson masturbation
Sexual Revolution in South Africa: The Pink Agenda: The Ruin of the Family by Christine McCafferty and Peter Hammond ISBN 0958398348
Show Me! by Will McBride
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Banned for foul language and promoting deviant sexual behavior.) ALA_2000
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice's psuedonym) ALA_2000 (banned for graphic sexuality)
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
The Social History of East Pakistan by Kamruddin Ahmad was banned in Pakistan in December 1969 for political reasons
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison ALA_2000
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence (sexual themes)
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe banned for promoting suicide
The Soul of Man Under Socialism by Oscar Wilde (banned for political reasons)
The Spanish Labyrinth by Gerald Brenan ISBN 0521398274 ST: An Account of the Social and Political Background of the Spanish Civil War, formerly banned in Spain for political reasons.
Spycatcher by Peter Wright About MI5. Banned in the UK.
Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman banned in Canada, and many stores in the United States refused to carry it.
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence (banned in some Canadian schools on religious grounds)
Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge ISBN 0763616087 Romance between middle-class drug-addict girl and boy with cerebral palsy
The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman Racial stereotypes
The Stupids (series) by Harry Allard ALA_2000
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green ISBN 0803783213 ALA_2000 Teenaged Jewish/Nazi romance, set in USA
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (The police were portrayed as pigs)
The Talmud was banned or censored in many Christian countries - some cities of medieval Italy, Czarist Russia and others; and in Nazi Germany
Teenage Lust by Larry Clark graphic sexual imagery, homoeroticism, drug use
Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara was banned in some districts of the USA on account of its sexual content being interpreted as obscene
Teleny, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde homoeroticism
Texte: RAF, sequestration in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Terrorist by Caroline B. Cooney ALA_2000 (Challenged due to negative portrayals of Arabs and Muslims)
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume ALA_2000
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Banned for the use of racial slurs.) ALA_2000
Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller (Banned in the USA for graphic depictions of sexual themes.)
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (Banned in the USA for graphic depictions of sexual themes)
Tulsa by Larry Clark (graphic sexual imagery, drug use)
The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald (Tells the story of a racist revolution. Challenged on those grounds.)
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Ulysses by James Joyce (Banned in the United States until 1933 because it was considered impossible to read and obscene.)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Banned in Southern U. S. states as anti-slavery propaganda and for negative depiction of slave-owners; banned in czarist Russia; banned in Waukegan, Illinois (1984) for undesirable racial language (cf. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).)
United States Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967 U.S. Department of Defense aka the Pentagon Papers
Understanding Islam through Hadis by Ram Swarup Hindi version banned in 1990.
Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (banned for obscenity and sado-masochistic themes.)
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts ISBN 0689717849 ALA_2000 Teenaged boy investigates elderly neighbor's death as murder.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin was the first book suppressed by the Soviet Glavlit censorship administration. It was not published in Russian until 1988.
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier ALA_2000
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (banned in Britain over its lesbian theme)
What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras ISBN 1557044430 ALA_2000 Illustrations of puberty's physical effects.
What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras ISBN 1557044449 ALA_2000 Illustrations of puberty's physical effects.
What is to be Done? By Nikolai Chernyshevsky (Banned in Tsarist Russia for advocating the overthrow of the autocracy and the institution of socialist and feminist reforms.)
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones ISBN 0689841140 Portrays ninth-grader Sophie as "boy-crazy", examing love vs. lust
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle ALA_2000 Illustrated facts of life
Where's Waldo? by Martin Handford (Banned from schools for the nudity (effectively toplessness, since no genitalia are visible) of a mermaid in it.) ALA_2000
" Who Has Seen The Wind? by W.O. Mitchell for sexual description
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Witches by Roald Dahl (Banned for language.) ALA_2000
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Banned for fantasy elements and "negativism".)
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence (Banned for sexuality)
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday ALA_2000
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Banned because of pseudo-Christian theme.) ALA_2000
Yerma by Federico García Lorca (Banned in Spain for political reasons.)
Yo El Supremo (I, the Supreme) by Augusto Roa Bastos (banned in Paraguay under the Stroessner regime for subversivness and perceived criticism of Stroessner)
Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne

Banned Books Week

During the last week of September of each year, the ALA celebrates Banned Books Week. Established in 1982, Banned Books Week celebrates freedom of the press and encourages people to read books which have been banned or challenged.

External links

Sorted alphabetically by domain name.

References

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