(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Nonfiction Views: Banned Books Week, and this week's notable new nonfiction [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-03 If the book banning crew had gotten to my local branch of the San Jose Public Library back in the latter half of the 1960s, I might never have learned about sex. My California grammar school was a very small school run by the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, known as a conservative group. There were only four classrooms for eight grades; in some subjects,the teacher addressed both classes; other times, he or she would alternate between giving a grade-appropriate lesson to half of the room while the other half worked on exercises. My eighth grade graduating class had only thirteen students. (In California at that time, there was just grade school and high school, no in-between junior high.) The pastor of the church was seriously conservative and in his Wednesday morning sermons and in his weekly religion class would fill our minds with the fearful consequences of all manner of sin, along with more esoteric subjects like the evil within Masonic Lodges. (In the 1970s, he was expelled from the church after it was discovered that he was having an extramarital affair with his secretary. But actually, the school itself and its teachers, to their credit, weren’t strictly conservative. We were taught about racism, we were taken on field trips to see factory work and the workings of government in Sacramento and to Pacific Ocean tidal pools. They adopted the then-trendy SRA Reading Program when I was 1965 or so. It was probably in the seventh grade that we had a class reading of Edward Everett Hale’s short story The Man Without a Country. We were taking turns reading portions of the story out loud, and it happened to be my turn when the shocking line was reached: “Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!” I remember the tension in the room. My fellow students were wondering if I would actually say that line. I myself was wondering if I would or could, or if the teacher would break in right before the fateful sentence. But no! I said it! Forcefully, acting out the character in all his anger and passion of the moment. The classroom gasped, then tittered, and the teacher stepped in to say that it was all right to utter a curse word and sentiment like that in the context of discussing literature. I think it was in the sixth grade when they attempted to teach us sex education. Credit them for recognizing the importance of teaching it, but they couldn’t quite go all the way, so to speak. We saw a film, we learned the names of the various body parts and about the changes of puberty, but one mysterious thing was left unspoken: how exactly the sperm got from the man into the woman to fertilize the egg. How did the school get around this emission omission? They assigned students to go to the library, check out a book about biology, and read the chapter about sexual reproduction. I remember being totally stunned when I read what happens! But it was the freedom offered by the library that allowed the church school to sidestep having to actually discuss sexual intercourse in class. Today, the book banning crowd would probably be outraged at a teacher telling students to check out a book and read about sex. And here I must add something Kossack Chitown Kev wrote in today’s Black Kos diary: I remember when I was 15 years old and I was pretty sure that there wasn’t book in one of our many home libraries that could tell me anything about being gay. I went to the public library and found a couple of books that helped me out. I didn’t let on to my folks, of course, that I now knew more about myself than they would have liked, quite frankly. That was between myself, the public library and, perhaps, individual librarians. In a way, it strikes me that book banning was much more innocent in the past, never a good thing, but not so completely filled with hate as today. Sex in general and communism seemed to be the main things people didn’t want readily available. As the last century came to a close, more began objections began creeping in, like the occult and satanism and alternate lifestyles and sexual practices. But now...the aim seems to be to erase people’s identity, to whitewash history, to impose fundamentalist thought. It’s scary. As I tweeted today: x Why did people try to ban Goosebumps? It was one of the top 20 banned books in the 1990s: too scary, they said, and occult/satanic messages. Hey parents! You voting for Republicans is a lot scarier than anything in Goosebumps! #BannedBooksWeek @RL_Stine pic.twitter.com/5n36cVbUMz — The Literate Lizard (@LitLizardSedona) October 3, 2023 (For the non-tweeters: “Why did people try to ban Goosebumps? It was one of the top 20 banned books in the 1990s: too scary, they said, and occult/satanic messages. Hey parents! You voting for Republicans is a lot scarier than anything in Goosebumps!”) Racial slurs, vulgarity and profanity played a role in many of the earlier book bans. Swept up in these objections were classics like Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, 1984, and Brave New World, all of which are on the list of 100 most challenged books of 2010-2019. No doubt shielding people from political ideas also factored in. Note that Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is also on the most-challenged list, accused of promoting socialism. Anyway, the theme of being outraged this week is the annual Banned Books Week. I currently have a page devoted to it on The Literate Lizard, including book lists and links to more information. Here are the four articles I link to from there: The American Library Association reported a record-breaking number of attempts to ban books in 2022— up 38 percent from the previous year. Most of the books pulled off shelves are “written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color." Prior to the rise in bans, white male youth were already more likely to see themselves depicted in children’s books than their peers, despite research demonstrating how more culturally inclusive material can uplift all children, according to a study, forthcoming in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, from TC’s Alex Eble. “Books can change outcomes for students themselves when they see people who look like them represented,” explains the Associate Professor of Economics and Education. “What people see affects who they become, what they believe about themselves and also what they believe about others…Not having equitable representation robs people of seeing the full wealth of the future that we all can inhabit.” Petersen, 48, is part of a small army of book objectors nationwide. School book challenges reached historic highs in America in 2021 and 2022, according to the American Library Association. And just a handful of people are driving those records. A Washington Post analysis of thousands of challenges nationwide found that 60 percent of all challenges in the 2021-2022 school year came from 11 adults, each of whom objected to dozens — sometimes close to 100 — of books in their districts. Yes, eleven people accounted for 60% of the challenges in the 2021-2022 school year. These are the same people who believe a small cabal of globalists want to control what we think. Book bans are increasingly driven by organized efforts led by elected officials or activists groups whose actions can affect a whole district or state. Of the nearly 1,500 book removals that PEN tracked in the last six months of 2022, the majority — nearly 75 percent — were driven by organized efforts or because of new legislation. The data also suggests that the surge in book bans is moving from school libraries to public libraries. Challenges to books in public libraries accounted for nearly half of the challenges (49%) thus far in 2023, compared to 16% during the same reporting period in 2022. Below is my list of some of the notable nonfiction published this week (sorry...no book cover picture this week!). Also see my comment in today’s Black Kos diary of the week’s new books of particular interest to Black and Latino/a readers of all ages. And my Hispanic Heritage Month selection of discounted books continues over at The Literate Lizard. I have to mention one children’s picture book published today: Kati's Tiny Messengers: Dr. Katalin Karikó and the Battle Against COVID-19, by Megan Hoyt, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger, from Quill Tree Books. It’s the story of Dr. Katalin Karikó, the scientist who, along with Dr. Drew Weissman, just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their research into mRNA techniques for developing vaccines, a breakthrough that led to the world-altering development of the Covid-19 vaccine and more. Great timing for the book’s author! THIS WEEK’S NEW NONFICTION All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them, but If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be truly appreciated. I would love to be considered ‘The Official Bookstore of Daily Kos.’ Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 20% each week). I’m busily adding new content every day, and will have lots more dedicated subject pages and curated booklists as it grows. I want it to be full of book-lined rabbit holes to lose yourself in (and maybe throw some of those books into a shopping cart as well.) We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month. Note that the DAILYKOS coupon code is only for the bookstore, not for the audiobook affiliate. READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/3/2196746/-Nonfiction-Views-Banned-Books-Week-and-this-week-s-notable-new-nonfiction?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/