Talk:Book censorship in the United States

Does banned from the mail count?

Under "List of other banned books", several were banned from the mail, but not from publication, under the Comstock Law. Do we want to count them? I removed one entry because the ban predated the US. — kwami (talk) 23:04, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Prison book bans

According to PEN America's 2019 report "Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban", prison book bans constituted the largest area of book censorship in the US. There are many sources on this from around the US which could be cited. Does this warrant inclusion on this page? SchrodingersMinou (talk) 05:47, 21 October 2022 (UTC)

I plan on possibly adding more to this article about book banning and censorship of libraries in prisons to this article! See more details in my user page. Basmati235979 (talk) 04:55, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

That's a great idea. I have a lot of information on this but it's hard to cite good sources on this because some of the bans don't get much, if any, press coverage. The Marshall Project usually is on top of it though. SchrodingersMinou (talk) 22:03, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: ENGL 2730-05 - Children's Literature

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2023 and 11 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Coldbrew831 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Coldbrew831 (talk) 16:00, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

Intended Edits Over Coming Weeks

Over the coming weeks, I plan to edit the "Harry Potter" and "Religious" sections of this article.

As it stands, the section of the article detailing religiously-based book bans is significantly lacking in the detail that other sections have. I plan to mention religious objections to public schools through the lens of the First Amendment and delve into religious objections based on witchcraft, science/evolution, and obscenity. These changes will bring the article to the same level of detail and nuance as other sections of the article. While there is already a section on book banning based on sexual content, my edits will incorporate more information on how religious groups see books containing sexual or "obscene" content as worthy of banning and the challenges to these attempts (Allen, Reuters)). I will talk more about the recent surge in book challenges in the United States, and discuss how challenges to the Bible highlight existing polarization with regards to this issue (Wilson). Additionally, I will provide context to the relationship of the First Amendment to book bans in public schools, citing, for example, the Cedarville case (Justia).

The Harry Potter section will branch off of the earlier discussion of how religious leaders and parents object to mentions of witchcraft and the occult. I will offer more detailled summaries of these objections and use additional examples of challenges to Harry Potter. I will also talk about the aspects of the Cedarville case that relate most specifically to the content in Harry Potter (Justia).

I also plan to fix some issues with misreferenced citations in these sections.

Finally, I hope to add an image to the article, as Wikipedia suggested. Coldbrew831 (talk) 17:15, 27 November 2023 (UTC)Coldbrew831 (talk) 17:13, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

My only caution with this is that we already have two paragraphs on Harry Potter, the same as The Catcher in the Rye, which sounds about right. StAnselm (talk) 18:16, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

Upcoming Edits for Streamlining

Over the coming weeks, I am planning on streamlining this page a bit. The “Examples” section is lengthy and includes a fair amount of irrelevant information, as well as being outdated (pre-2020?). Rather than trying to constantly update this section with contemporary examples of banned books, the best representation of this information is in the use of Lists, many of which are already cited in the “See also” of this page. These lists are informed by sources from organizations that track the challenging and banning of books.

Also, many of the books covered in “Examples” are already referenced in the “Reasons for Censorship” section, making the “Examples” section redundant. The "Reasons for Censorship" section will be expanded using examples within the "Examples" section and from without. One thing that could be done is to have a “top books banned by year over the last 10 years” section. Poto18 (talk) 22:45, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

This makes a lot of sense. Look forward to seeing how you approach it! Oughtta Be Otters (talk) 01:43, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Great! Thanks. In looking at it more, too, is that the "Reasons for censorship" seems to more just give examples already, so I'm planning on making more cohesive reasons with explanations instead of just having examples. Poto18 (talk) 01:46, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Looking back after your comments, the lede did not really seem to summarize the article as it ought, so I re-wrote the lede to have more of an overview of the history and other sections. Because that meant removing a bunch of content on the definition of book censorship, I added a section to cover and retain that subject. I will keep an eye and recalibrate the lede as you work through the article. Oughtta Be Otters (talk) 19:34, 27 April 2024 (UTC)