CC: Book censorship: an American phenomenon and a European crisis

The spectre of censorship looms darker than ever. In a concerning sequence of events, public libraries in the US are increasingly receiving requests to remove books considered problematic for young students’ upbringing. Despite its modern variant originating in the US, we can observe a dangerous spillover of censorship into Europe.

Starting with the US, this issue is mostly generated from right-wing-leaning organisations, who are advocating for schools to protect their children from harmful content in printed media. In particular, 72% of complaints have come from pressure groups and local governments, while parents only made up 16% of complaints. Most of the complaints are directed towards works covering LGBT and race thematics, claiming that exposure to divisive topics may force a bias onto easily malleable students. However, censored authors belong mostly to these minority groups, raising questions of representation in contemporary American literature. This inevitably led to legal battles, in which judges have repeatedly ruled bans as unconstitutional. However, threats to individual rights persist. 

It is no secret that one of US President Trump's many objectives is a substantial schooling reform, as he has announced a withholding of funding towards the Department of Education and even threatened its closure. Despite the escalation in book censorship starting during the Biden Administration, it has mostly taken place under Republican governors, and it is forecast to increase its momentum during Trump 2.0, as book banning has officially been declared a hoax. Nonetheless, books are targeted by an anti-DEI campaign aiming at nullifying the longstanding inclusion efforts made by US institutions to better portray the extremely diverse landscape of the American nation. 

In an attempt to contain damage and make the issue acquire political relevance, PEN America (originally short for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists) and the American Library Association are campaigning to prevent the escalation of book censorship, and protect students’ individual rights. The former is part of a worldwide PEN network whose objective is to ensure freedom of expression, providing protection for journalists and individuals at risk of being prosecuted for treating sensitive topics. The latter finds its origins 150 years ago, when librarians united in Philadelphia in an effort to facilitate their daily work by ensuring accessibility of the printed press. Today, these organisations raise awareness on censorship by publishing annual lists of the most challenged books in American public schools. The highlights include Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Starting with Nineteen Minutes, this book consistently tops the chart of challenged works, as it covers the everlasting issue of school shootings in the US. Despite becoming a bestseller when it was published in 2007 and later being integrated into several schools’ curricula, this work is facing increasing pressure as it disappears from school shelves. In an interview, Picoult has contested the presence of LGBT characters and explicit content as the sole reasons for her book’s ban, claiming its prohibition to be based on a wrong definition of pornography.

Proceeding with The Kite Runner, this novel walks the reader through the streets of Kabul in the 1970s through the eyes of the little Amir, witnessing the fall of the Afghan monarchy and the rise of the Taliban. Hosseini’s work has been put under review in several schools in Florida, and has recently become one of the most banned books in the country. The author, accused of narrating sexual content, racially divisive rhetoric, and inappropriate criticism towards Christianity, has rejected the push against his work and has drawn a parallel with 1930s Europe, advocating for students’ exposition to diverse standpoints. 

As it regards The Handmaid’s Tale, it depicts a dystopian future in which a rogue US government forbids women to read and forces them into childbearing for the elites. The author has denounced the book’s useless challenges, as books will be read regardless of bans, while activists underline how non-profit book banning organisations hide their donors’ profiles to avoid accusations of hate rhetoric. Curiously, the book has been republished in 2022 in a fireproof cover, protesting the controversial reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Ending with Looking for Alaska, this coming-of-age debut novel is partially based on John Green’s early adolescence, and focuses on the search for the meaning of life while the protagonists try to reconstruct the events leading to their friend Alaska’s death. Despite the intention of writing meaningful adult fiction, the book has quickly climbed the ranks of most challenged works in American schools due to explicit content. Green has always rejected accusations of pornography, claiming scenes were taken out of context, and has declared his surprise on “how organized those groups would become in their attempts to take over America’s school systems”, and his disdain towards “attempts to rewrite American history to better fit contemporary narratives around America’s purported greatness.”

Book censorship in the US has long been a contentious issue, fueling the fire of the extremely polarised American political landscape. It is easy to pick on America and its extravagance, while we celebrate our supposed immunity from backward culture wars. The truth is that attacks on printed media have started to re-emerge across Europe, and putting the full blame on American conservatives would deflect blame from homegrown rather than imported movements.

While European countries top the charts in media freedom, bookshops are increasingly under attack, as the European and International Bookseller Association denounces rising tensions in the political and religious landscape, leading to censorship and violence against booksellers. In Italy, booksellers have refused to sell the 2023 Amazon bestseller The World Upside Down by far-right MEP Roberto Vannacci, containing racist and homophobic remarks, while an anti-fascist bookseller in Rome, Pecora Elettrica, has been targeted by arsonists twice before closing in 2019. In France, bookshops in Paris, Bordeaux, and Marseille have reported vandalism from far-right and feminist groups. Another call for help comes from Les Parleuses in Nice, which was forced by the police to cover signs against the visiting Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who had been accused of rape. While Spain reports attacks on feminist bookshops, and Hungary suffers anti-LGBT measures, the loudest cry for help comes from Ireland and the UK. Reports describe mounting anger within both societies, with far-right groups targeting bookshops displaying anti-racist or LGBT-friendly signs, exposing owners and workers to the dangers of recurring vandalism and harassment. 

We can notice how, while book bannings in the US have major salience in international media, censorship in Europe is advancing silently. Instead of taking on school libraries and our Ministries of Education through political pressure, it is targeting small bookshops with repressive violence. However, physical and political attacks are only the latest pieces in a wider puzzle of crises for independent booksellers. COVID has accelerated a trend of plummeting sales in favour of e-commerce, which are only partially relieved by government subsidies. As readers, the best way to ensure our favourite shops’ survival is to use them over online stores and spread the word of their existence, or else our neighbourhoods will lose yet another element of life.