Banned in the U.S.A.

The most respected reference work on book censorship in schools and public libraries has been completely revised, updated, and expanded. The most respected reference work on book censorship in schools and public libraries has been completely revised, updated, and expanded. Since its original publication in 1994, many new developments have confirmed that book censorship in the United States continues apace. Every section of this work has been significantly rewritten, updated, or expanded to reflect those developments. The “Survey of Major Bookbanning Incidents” features in-depth accounts of three new landmark bookbanning incidents. The chapter on “The Law of Bookbanning” includes a discussion of recent Supreme Court decisions involving censorship on the Internet and in book publishing and their implications for bookbanning in schools and public libraries. “Voices of Banned Authors” features interviews with David Guterson and Leslea Newman and updated interviews with most of the other authors profiled in the first edition.
The heart of the first edition, “A Survey of Major Bookbanning Incidents,” has been completely revised to provide annotated entries on the 50 most frequently challenged books for 1996 through 2000, and the Harry Potter series tops the list. Finally, all new appendixes feature an updated Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) list of Most Frequently Challenged Books and Authors through 2000 and a number of graphs to display key information. Since the first edition was published to acclaim and awards in 1994, librarians have relied on this work, by noted intellectual freedom authority Herbert N. Foerstel, for a thorough analysis of the current state of bookbanning in schools and public libraries and for ready reference material on major incidents, legal cases, and annotated entries on the most frequently challenged books. Libraries holding the original edition will need the revised edition in order to keep current on the issue. The work is also a rich source of information for students and others interested in the controversial issue of intellectual freedom.

Author Biography

HERBERT N. FOERSTEL is the former Head of Branch Libraries at the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Security Archives. He is a noted authority on intellectual freedom and has published seven previous books on the topic for Greenwood Publishing, including Banned in the Media (1998) and From Watergate to Monicagate: Ten Controversies in Modern Journalism and Media (2001).