Censored Classics Under Fire: America's Crackdown on Literature
By Mia Lee More Info Facebook Twitter Whatsapp E-Mail Print Copy Link
America is discarding its timeless masterpieces
Welcome to 2025 America, where schools and libraries are under intense scrutiny as books that were once considered classics are systematically banned. Surprisingly, it's not just the controversial books that are under threat, but also those dealing with race, gender, sexual orientation, and the nation's history. As much as 10,046 instances of book banning have been recorded across 29 states and 220 public school districts, with Florida and Iowa leading the charge.
Journalist Daniel Kehlmann finds the word "fascism" a fitting description for the United States under the Trump administration, likening it to the life experiences of black Americans, who have always lived under a police state, facing constant fear of unnecessary violence, especially during traffic stops. Now, he sees a wave of deep, racist hatred directed at those from South America.
A Closer Look at Banned Books
- The Handmaid's Tale - A Dystopian Nightmare Set in America's Near Future This Margaret Atwood novel published in 1985 paints a terrifying picture of sterility in the USA, where a Christian fundamentalist group seizes power, executes the president and members of Congress, and establishes a theocratic dictatorship with strict rules for women.
- Animal Farm - A Farm Gone Awry This 1945 novella by George Orwell tells the story of animals on an English farm rebelling against their human owner. However, they soon find themselves ruled by pigs who enact an even worse dictatorship than the one they were trying to escape.
- 1984 - Big Brother's omnipresent eyes Another George Orwell classic, published in 1949, gives us a glimpse into a totalitarian surveillance state in 1984, where personal freedom and privacy are non-existent.
- The Diary of Anne Frank - A Teen's Tragedy This seminal work, a first-hand account of the Holocaust by a teenage Jewish girl, was once mandatory reading for German students, but its message seems to have been lost in the swarm of censorship.
- The Hunger Games - A Dystopian Trilogy Published between 2008 and 2010, this dystopian series, written by American author Suzanne Collins, is a brutal depiction of a post-apocalyptic America, where a corrupt government forces young people to fight to the death for the amusement of the ruling class.
- The Fault in Our Stars - A Gut-Wrenching Coming-of-Age Story Published in 2012, this book recounts a tragic love story between two teenagers dealing with cancer. Despite its somber tone, it was a massive hit among teenagers.
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Racial Injustice in the Deep South This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, published in 1960, tells the story of a young girl in the 1930s South, who witnesses the brutal realities of racial prejudice and intolerance.
- Nineteen Minutes - The Deadly Consequences of a School Shooting For years, public schools have been vulnerable to deadly attacks perpetrated by disgruntled students, and this novel by Jodi Picoult tackles the psychological and emotional aftermath of such a tragedy.
Books like these, which deal with deep, complex issues and ask uncomfortable questions, have become targets of censorship in 2025 America. It's a strange time indeed when a nation that prides itself on its love for literature is willing to wipe away some of its most compelling and transformative works.
- In the surge of book bans across various American states and school districts, classic literature such as George Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm', which depict themes of totalitarian surveillance and power struggles, have found themselves under threat.
- Amidst the controversy, even education-and-self-development and lifestyle books, like the highly acclaimed 'The Diary of Anne Frank', have been drawn into the fray, seemingly lost amidst the swell of censorship.
- Remarkably, science-focused books, which generally escape political and social controversies, have also been targeted, with titles like Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' being systematically removed from libraries and school curricula, highlighting the far-reaching consequences of this censorship wave.
