VintageGriffin.com

Vintage is everything -- clothing, architecture, gadgets. It also encompasses books, which can be considered living vintage since so many books printed decades or even centuries ago are still in print and actively read. This week vintage (and current) books come into focus as the American Library Association celebrates the importance of art and ideas during the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week (September 23-30), an important event, as book banning is still a very lively sport for some folks, as they try to remove textbooks, novels, and information guides from libraries and schools. Out of the 100 books deemed the greatest novels of the 20th century by the Radcliffe Publishing Course, 42 of them of them have been banned or challenged over the years. Recent years, in fact.

The ALA's annual list includes books which have been banned outright or been challenged. Important works of art like To Kill A Mockingbird have been on banned lists and have been repeatedly challenged throughout the decades (To Kill A Mockingbird was most recently challenged in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and was most recently banned in 1996). Even in recent years, books such as The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Lord of the Flies, 1984, Of Mice and Men, Slaughterhouse Five and Satanic Verses have been challenged. In 2001 The Lord of the Rings had the distinction of actually being burned in Alamagordo, New Mexico near Christ Community Church (source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 2002, p. 61).

This is a battle we will always have to fight. There will always be those trying to limit ideas, control thought, and limit choice. The written word has been one of the most powerful instruments we have had through the millenia to shape our societies, improve ourselves, gain better understanding of our world. Sometimes the written word has been the only thing that keeps hope for tomorrow alive.

Visit the ALA's Web site to see how you can spread awareness of Banned Book Week (they have posters, T-shirts, bookmarks and more).

See a list of banned and/or challenged books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.