Chris Finan, President of The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), reminds us that the whole concept of Banned Books Week is a direct response to the Republican Revolution that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Booksellers, librarians, and publishers celebrated the first Banned Books Week in 1982 against the background of a political and cultural counterrevolution. Many people saw the election of Ronald Reagan as a chance to strike back against the liberalization that had occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. On the local level, they began challenging hundreds of books that were used in schools and libraries.
The seeds of many of the current issues (and flagrant violations) we face with privacy, freedom of expression and first amendment rights with the Bush administration are simply outgrowths of the same reactive policies of the Reagan years. Unfortunately, our freedom is under attack just as much from within our borders than from an enemy from abroad.
Here are a couple of quotes from a couple of past Presidents on the book subject:
“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 from a speech at Dartmouth College, June 14, 1953
“Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” – Lyndon Baines Johnson, February 11, 1964
Chris Finan is keeping a Banned Book Week blog.
The ALA’s Banned Book Week page is a good jumping off point for what’s going on around the country.