As Banned Books Week Comes To An End, One Might Wonder If Books Are Really Still Banned

The answer is yes. Yes, they sure are. And it’s not just Harry Potter or And Tango Makes Three. “Our government doesn’t actually ban books, does it? Sure it does! The federal government, and state and local governments, do it all the time. The New Jim Crow. The Color Purple. Excel for Dummies. In the incarceration capital of the world, books are often withheld from prisons because of their content, though sometimes for capricious and inexplicable reasons. When this kind of censorship becomes public prison officials often back down because it’s embarrassing. But still it happens.” – Inside Higher Ed