Summer Reading List: Banned Books Edition
September 4, 2022
First Aired: July 10, 2022
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The American Library Association reports that last year 1,597 books were challenged or removed from libraries, schools, and universities, a record high number (compared to 273 books in 2020). Most of the challenged or removed books deal with themes relating to race or sexuality and gender, and challenges come from both the right and the left. What are the implications for your thought-provoking summer reading? Josh and Ray talk to Stanford English professor Paula Moya about attempts to remove Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye from schools; activist Chaz Stevens about his crusade to ban the Bible from Florida schools; and Jennifer Ruth & Michael Bérubé about their new book, It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom.
- Books
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- Censorship
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- Hume
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- Judaism
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- Kindness
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- Literature
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- Reading
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- Words
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Guest
Jennifer Ruth, Professor of Film, Portland State University
Michael Bérubé, Professor of Literature, Pennsylvania State University
Chaz Stevens, Florida activist
Related Resources
Baer, Ulrich. (2019). What Snowflakes Get Right: Free Speech, Truth, and Equality on Campus.
Barnes, Derrick (2020). I Am Every Good Thing.
Hannah-Jones, Nikole (2021). The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.
Morrison, Toni (1970). The Bluest Eye.
Morrison, Toni (1987). Beloved.
Morrison, Toni (2008). A Mercy.
Pasternak, Boris (1957). Doctor Zhivago.
Ruth, Jennifer & Bérubé, Michael (2022). It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom.
Scruton, Roger (2015). Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left.
Smil, Vaclav (2022). How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future.
Thomas, Peyton (2021). Both Sides Now.
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