Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, by Robert P. Doyle, is an essential reference for all who read, write, and work with books.  This updated and expanded 2014 edition, now available at the ALA Store Online, features a new, streamlined design that will make this an essential reference you’ll return to time and again.

Librarians, educators, students, and parents along with publishers, booksellers, writers, and readers interested in the current state of literary censorship in America–especially in our libraries and schools–will find this volume indispensable. This new edition of Banned Books by noted First Amendment advocate Robert P. Doyle details incidents of book bannings from 387 BC to 2014.

Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read provides a framework for understanding censorship and the protections guaranteed to us through the First Amendment. Interpretations of the uniquely American notion of freedom of expression–and our freedom to read what we choose–are supplemented by straightforward, easily accessible information that will inspire further exploration.

Contents include:

Insight–The Challenge of Censorship

Interpretation–The First Amendment, the Freedom of Expression, and the Freedom to Read

Information–First Amendment Timeline, Court Cases,. Glossary, Bibliography, Quotations, and Action Guide

Incidents–Top Ten Challenged Books of 2013 and Banned or Challenged Books–almost 2,000 titles listed alphabetically by author plus Title, Topical, and Geographic Indices.

Read a sample of the book!

Also available at the ALA Store is this year’s Banned Books Week campaign, which features the tagline “Have You Seen Us?”
Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books from across the United States. Use these products to help emphasize the importance of the First Amendment and the power of uncensored literature.

For more information on how you can celebrate your freedom to read, check out ala.org/bbooks and bannedbooksweek.org.