Banning a book for all Americans is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do; in fact, in the country’s nearly 250 years of life, it has never been done at a federal level, according to Find Law.
However, federal laws and court decisions have restricted or removed certain books in specific contexts, including “Ulysses” by James Joyce.
Though redaction and restriction has occurred repeatedly in the U.S., the First Amendment has prevented complete federal book bans.
Typically when book bans are discussed, people refer to them on a smaller scale.
In her book, “Book Banning in 21st Century America”, Emily Knox, professor at the University of Illinois, explains how censorship typically comes in one of four forms: removal (on a local or school level), relocation, restriction and redaction.
The First Amendment Museum explained what this might look like. They wrote, “A school might choose not to carry a book in its library, or a bookseller might refuse to sell a certain book, or a library might try to expunge a book from its collection.”
However, the federal government has never passed an official government-wide book ban.
What are common reasons for banning a book in the U.S.?
In 1982, a group of students challenged their local school district in New York, which was removing books, including “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers,” edited by Langston Hughes.
The district maintained that the books were removed on behalf of being “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy.”
The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled, “Local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’”
However, in a study conducted more recently in 2020 by the American Library Association, a large majority of books currently challenged or banned on local levels are cited for “sexual content.”
Similar data from 2000-2009 published by the ALA shows that roughly half of the titles were challenged for containing sexually explicit material, offensive language and non-age appropriate material.
Notable examples of banned books in America
‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain
A month after its initial publication in February, 1885, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was pulled from shelves in Concord, Massachusetts, with the reason being it was “suitable only for the slums,” per PBS.
Middle State Tennessee University claims a later ban from the New York Public Library children’s reading room only increased its popularity.
While the reasons for banning this book have changed consistently over the years, Martha’s Vineyard Times reported the book has now sold roughly 20 million copies worldwide.
‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce
From this novel’s initial publication in 1920 until the U.S. District Court case in 1933, postal workers fought on the front lines attempting to prevent “Ulysses” from entering the U.S.
The Comstock Laws allowed the U.S. Postal Service to intercept any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious book,” according to the Library of Congress.
So, when copies came in from Europe, “The Post Office Department burned any copies arriving on these shores,” The New York Times reported. Customs officials routinely seized copies arriving from friends and relatives outside of the U.S. as well.
According to Politics and Prose, England “officially” banned the book in 1929, “possibly because the mass-burning proved insufficient to suppress its readership.”
As this book was generating a massive amount of controversy, it escalated into the influential court case United States v. One Book Called Ulysses.
The case disputed whether the book was “pornographic,” its words were “dirty” and its content “obscene.”
Ultimately, the court concluded, “Whilst in many places the effect of ‘Ulysses’ on the reader undoubtedly is somewhat emetic, nowhere does it tend to be an aphrodisiac. ‘Ulysses’ may, therefore, be admitted into the United States.”
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee
This Pulitzer Prize winner also has a long history of bans, with recent challenges occurring in 2018, 2017, 2011 and 2009, according to Banned Books Week.
In 1966, a school board first banned this book for being “immoral” and “improper for our children,” per Reason. The magazine cites recent bans from the book stemming from the book’s usage of racial slurs.
In 2018, The Independent reported that several schools in Minnesota had banned both “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
Michael Cary, Duluth Minnesota director of curriculum and instruction, explained the district’s decision. “We felt that we could still teach the same standards and expectations through other novels that didn’t require students to feel humiliated or marginalized by the use of racial slurs,” he told The Washington Post.
‘1984′ by George Orwell
“1984″ has created controversy in the U.S. for a myriad of reasons, largely on behalf of its sexual content and political themes. UC Press reported one instance of the book being “challenged in Jackson County, Florida, for being pro-communism.”
While this book has faced many challenges from Americans attempting to get it banned in the U.S., Orwell’s novel has had much worse luck reaching the public in other countries, including Vietnam.
According to the BBC in 2017, “1984″ was unable to receive certification to publish in Vietnam.
The chairman of a board of directors of a book company in Hanoi, who requested to remain anonymous, told the BBC, “If any publisher is ‘brave’ enough to issue a license, they will definitely have to prepare to pay a fine, not to mention that their leaders or editorial board will lose their jobs.”
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger
A decade after its initial publication in 1951, from 1961 to 1982, “The Catcher in the Rye” was “the most censored book in American schools and libraries,” according to Medium. It dropped to the 10th most frequently challenged and banned book in the U.S. through 1999.
The ALA records instances of banning and restricting this book, one citing “excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence and anything dealing with the occult” as the reason for its ban.
Similarly in Summerville, South Carolina, in 2001, a school board member removed “The Catcher in the Rye,” calling it “a filthy, filthy book,” per the ALA.