AARP Bulletin - September 2010

;Power of 50
The list of books banned by American
schools and libraries includes many of the classics.
Here’s our list, prepared to coincide with the American
Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week, Sept. 25-Oct. 2.
We’ve highlighted a few favorite 50-plus rogues and villains.
Who says you gotta be young to rebel? By Betsy Towner
asking or telling the author.
Faber: In a dystopian society
that burns books to snuff original
thought, Faber belongs to a group
of academics who memorize
literature to preserve it for future
generations.
PHOTO CREDITS ON PAGE 38
Too Political
1. Uncle Tom’s Cab-
in, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, 1852
2. All Quiet on
the Western Front,
Erich Maria Re-
marque, 1928
3. A Farewell to
Arms, Ernest Hem-
ingway, 1929
4. The Grapes of
Wrath, John Stein-
beck, 1939
5. For Whom the
Bell Tolls, Ernest
Hemingway, 1940
6. Animal Farm,
George Orwell, 1945
7. 1984, George
Orwell, 1949
8. Doctor Zhivago,
Boris Pasternak,
1957
9. Slaughterhouse-
Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Jr., 1969
10. In the Spirit of
Crazy Horse, Peter
Matthiessen, 1983
Too Much Sex
1. Madame Bovary,
Gustave Flaubert,
1856
2. Tess of the
d’Urbervilles,
Thomas Hardy, 1891
3. Ulysses, James
Joyce, 1922
4. The Sun Also
Rises, Ernest Hem-
ingway, 1926
5. Lady Chatterley’s
Lover, D. H. Law-
rence, 1928
6. Tropic of Cancer,
Henry Miller, 1934
7. Lolita, Vladimir
Nabokov, 1955
8. Peyton Place,
Grace Metalious,
1956
9. Rabbit, Run, John
Updike, 1960
10. I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings,
Maya Angelou, 1969
11. Jaws, Peter
Benchley, 1974
12. Forever, Judy
Blume, 1975
13. The Prince of
Tides, Pat Conroy,
1986
14. Beloved, Toni
Morrison, 1987
15. How the García
Girls Lost Their Ac-
cents, Julia Alvarez,
1991
Irreligious
1. On the Origin of
Species, Charles
Darwin, 1859
2. The Lord of the
Rings trilogy, J. R. R.
Tolkien, 1954
3. The Last Temp-
tation of Christ,
Nikos Kazantzakis,
1960
4. Bless Me, Ultima,
Rudolfo Anaya, 1972
5. Harry Potter
series, J. K. Rowling,
1997-2007
Socially Offensive
1. The Autobiogra-
phy of Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, 1791
2. The Scarlet
Letter, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, 1850
3. The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn,
Mark Twain, 1884
4. As I Lay Dying,
William Faulkner,
1930
5. Brave New World,
Aldous Huxley, 1932
6. Gone With the
Wind, Margaret
Mitchell, 1936
7. Of Mice and Men,
John Steinbeck, 1937
8. Anne Frank: The
Diary of a Young
Girl, Anne Frank,
1947
9. The Catcher in
the Rye, J.D. Salin-
ger, 1951
10. Fahrenheit 451,
Ray Bradbury, 1953
11. To Kill a Mock-
ingbird, Harper Lee,
1960
12. James and the
Giant Peach, Roald
Dahl, 1961
13. Catch- 22, Joseph
Heller, 1961
14. A Clockwork
Orange, Anthony
Burgess, 1962
15. One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest,
Ken Kesey, 1962
16. In Cold Blood,
Truman Capote,
1966
17. Cujo, Stephen
King, 1981
18. The Color Purple,
Alice Walker, 1982
19. Ordinary People,
Judith Guest, 1982
20. A Thousand
Acres, Jane Smiley,
1991
The Autobiog-
raphy of
Benjamin
Franklin, 1791
Censure: Fre-
quently censored
from 1789 to the
early 20th century, the essays were
often “sanitized” by publishers so
that schools would buy copies.
Benjamin Franklin: His memoirs,
written after he turned 65, include
the essay “Advice to a Young Man on
the Choice of a Mistress,” in which
Franklin lists the myriad ways that
older women make superior lovers.
The Scarlet
Letter
by Nathaniel
Hawthorne, 1850
Censure: Conser-
vative clergy have
condemned the
novel since 1850
for its adultery theme; the most re-
cent school challenge was in 1999.
Roger Chillingworth: He de-
velops from a kind scholar into
an obsessed fiend. Chillingworth
arrives in Boston to find his wife the
mother of another man’s child. Fix-
ated on punishing Hester’s seducer,
he symbolizes Satan’s ability to
prevent forgiveness.
The Grapes of
Wrath by John
Steinbeck, 1939
Censure: Burned in
California, New York
and Illinois; chal-
lenged or banned
in 10 states.
Granma and Grampa Joad:
The Joads are damn proud of
their cussin’ brood—that kind of
language helped get Steinbeck’s
masterpiece blacklisted across
the country, including in Kern
County, Calif., where much of the
novel is set.
Bless Me,
Ultima by
Rudolfo Anaya,
1972
Censure: Chal-
lenged or banned
in four states.
Ultima: The old
healer Ultima combines herbs,
prayer and tough love to practice
her mysteriously potent branch
of medicine. Is it witchcraft? The
townsfolk—and some conservative
Christian readers—suspect it is.
A Thousand
Acres by Jane
Smiley, 1991
Censure: Banned
at Lynden High
School, Washing-
ton, 1994.
Larry Cook:
Cook announces plans to divide
his lands among his three adult
daughters. The generous-patriarch
image shatters when we learn that
this wealthy Iowa farmer, based
on Shakespeare’s King Lear, is a
pedophile who abused his girls
decades earlier.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray
Bradbury, 1953
Censure: Ballantine published sani-
tized editions for schools from 1967
to 1973 and sold only the sanitized
edition from 1973 to 1979—without
Harry Potter series by J. K.
Rowling, 1997–2007
Censure: Burned in New Mexico;
challenged in 19 states.
Albus Dumbledore: A modern-day
Merlin, the Hogwarts headmaster
personifies the allegedly demonic
attributes of this series—witch-
craft, sorcery and
rebellion against
authority. Rowling
added fuel to the
bonfire with her
2007 assertion
that Dumbledore
is gay.