Central Bucks and the effort to ban books: a quick look at a sad history

Today is the first day of National Library Week. To kick it off, we’d like to share a terrific resource from some Canadian kindred spirits. They take us through many famous book bans, going all the way back to this:

259–210 B.C.: The Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti is said to have buried alive 460 Confucian scholars to control the writing of history in his time. In 212 B.C., he burned all the books in his kingdom, retaining only a single copy of each for the Royal Library and those were destroyed before his death. With all previous historical records destroyed, he thought history could be said to begin with him.

To this:

35: The Roman emperor Caligula opposed the reading of The Odyssey by Homer, written more than 300 years before. He thought the epic poem was dangerous because it expressed Greek ideas of freedom.

To this:

640: According to legend, the caliph Omar burned all 200,000 volumes in the library at Alexandria in Egypt. In doing so, he said: “If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Book of God they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.” In burning the books, the caliph provided six months’ fuel to warm the city’s baths.

To this:

1807: Dr. Thomas Bowdler quietly brought out the first of his revised editions of Shakespeare’s plays. The preface claimed that he had removed from Shakespeare “everything that can raise a blush on the cheek of modesty”—which amounted to about 10 per cent of the playwright’s text. One hundred and fifty years later, it was discovered that the real excision had been done by Dr. Bowdler’s sister, Henrietta Maria. The word “bowdlerize” became part of the English language. 

To this:

1933: A series of massive bonfires in Nazi Germany burned thousands of books written by Jews, communists, and others. Included were the works of John Dos Passos, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, Lenin, Jack London, Thomas Mann, Karl Marx, Erich Maria Remarque, Upton Sinclair, Stalin, and Leon Trotsky.

To this:

2013: In Pakistan, spokesmen for organizations that represent the nation’s private schools announced bans on I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. In November, Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said that a ban was in force in the libraries of 40,000 affiliated schools. Kashif Mirza, chairman of the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, said a ban was in force in its affiliated schools. Senior education officials said the book—which was co-authored by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb—showed insufficient respect for Islam.

Throughout history, people who feel threatened by ideas seek to crush the ideas rather than understand or rebut them.

One of our school board members had this to say in an email to the superintendent:

“You do not ‘support fundamental human rights’ when you are supporting the same actions as the Nazis. Book banning has never been on the right side of history.”

She might have added Shih Huang Ti, Caligula, the caliph Omar, Dr. Thomas Bowdler, and the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation—and many, many more.

This is not to say nor to suggest that anyone or group in CB are Nazis, emperors, busybodish, self-appointed editors or sisters of same, or members of the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation.

What we are in CB are concerned citizens who want to be sure that all our kids have good books to read. That is why our administrators have hired librarians who are trained to choose good books for the kids. It is also why we have made provisions for families who wish to guard their own children from ideas they believe will harm them to restrict what their own children can read.

It is true that book banners throughout history have not won the battle for hearts and minds.

CB had a good library policy. We would like it back.