“Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” —Stephen Chbosky
We live in…interesting…times here in America. For a lot of American citizens life is going on as normal; perhaps, they have the luxury to ignore the political battleground that is forming around us all, but the other concern is that those people are simply uneducated (or undereducated). They don’t see the riptides forming waiting to suck us into unknown territory. The rise of the far-right political groups over the past decade is concerning, especially as we see politicians who are treading the same paths that other regimes in world history have trod down. Historians, political scientists, and citizens who lived through those earlier troubled times have watched the America they have known and loved turn away from the welcoming democratic republic it has been grow increasingly isolationist, frightening, and, according to a growing number of voices, fascist.
“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” —Oscar Wilde
Every day in America, more and more books are being challenged, banned, and pulled from library shelves, predominantly in our elementary, middle, and high schools – and in some cases in university and public libraries as well. Groups like Moms for Liberty have been extraordinarily vocal about removing books they decry as immoral, un-Christian, indecent, or even un-American. Members of these groups lean heavily on schools to remove scores of books from classrooms and libraries on campuses across America. They are growing more successful in their endeavors through getting seated on school boards, running for public offices that hold oversight over public libraries, and using these positions of authority to leverage the withholding of funding to these institutions.
“Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” —Lyndon B. Johnson
So, you may ask, what do we do to combat this problem?
First, when you see a book being challenged and removed from an institution of learning, always look for why they are trying to hide it – what do they not want the general populace to know? There has consistently been a concerted effort to “whitewash” history and spin tales to make our country look as perfect as it can be. Our schoolchildren are taught largely about our history through the eyes of the rich, Anglo-Christian male perspective – frequently giving them the soft-focus lens of “the peacemaker”, “the noble or moral figure”, “the righteous cause”, “the winner”. History books are written by the victors, the ones in power, the people with money. However, those of us who truly study history know that this only tells a small part of the story.
This system of history keeping takes all of the contributions made by the “others”: people of color, women, those with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ identifying peoples, and non-Christians, and removes all of these populations identifiers from the conversation. At best, it overlooks the contributions made by these groups by speaking obliquely about them and not acknowledging their belonging to said group. At worst, the conversation downright disregards the truth they share – attributing and assigning the accolades to a white man.
“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
These wise words of President Eisenhower are true. The history of our societies does not change by writing it down the way one would prefer that it happened. We cannot, for example, say that slavery did not exist by not teaching people about it. It is still there, and it is our collective responsibility as humans in an interconnected global environment to seek out the accurate, truthful knowledge of our past. The best thing we can do to achieve this truth is by doing exactly what they discourage: we read. And we foster ways of encouraging others to read.
- As teachers, we strive to make sure that we are giving the children entrusted to us a well-rounded perspective of history. We don’t just teach from the winner’s side, the male side, etc. We teach multiple perspectives and teach students how to critically think to come to the truth of the situation.
- As parents, we encourage children to have conversations about what they are learning in school. We supplement that knowledge acquisition by reading other texts together, watching a movie on the subject, or visiting a museum. We empower them to ask questions, to think critically, and to seek out the answers they are missing.
- As individuals, we start by acknowledging that our own education may have been taught through one of these slanted lenses and set out to learn more. We read books that show a different angle of a historical event. We read banned books. We visit museums or audit classes at our local community college or university, if they are available. We check out adult learning opportunities online and in our community.
“Vitally important for a young man or woman is, first, to realize the value of education and then to cultivate earnestly, aggressively, and ceaselessly the habit of self-education.” — B.C. Forbes
The aim of this page is simple: to shine a light on books. The books included here will be varied across many categories, with emphasis given to underrepresented subject matter and narrative voices, varied historical viewpoints, and topics or events often left out of the educational curriculum. These topics may include:
- Social injustice
- “Other side”/alternative perspective history
- Representation of persons with: disabilities, mental health struggles, neurodiverse conditions, “atypical” family structures, and LGBTQIA+
- Varied political systems
Each book presented will include all the information needed to locate it in your local library, bookstore, etc. including:
- Cover image
- Key information such as: title, author, age/reading level
- Secondary information such as: page count, publisher, date published, & ISBN number
- If a book has been challenged or banned: the why and where
- A list of any awards or accolades the book has received
- Link(s) to online sources for purchase
Here is to walking into this realm together. Here is to knowledge. Here is to freedom. Cheers, all.
In the spirit of transparency, most of the links will be “affiliate links”. This means that when a book is purchased through one of the links given here our page will receive a small commission, at NO additional charge to you. These commissions will be used to offset the costs of running this webpage so that we can continue to provide an ad-free experience. We appreciate your support!
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