The Birth of Ulysses in America December 23, 2009

Martha Scotford has a fantastic piece over at Design Observer titled Ulysses: Fast Track to 1934 Best Seller that looks at the publication and design history of this hi-spot of 20th literature. The piece highlights Bennett Cerf’s, then publisher at Random House, commitment to the book and the legal challenges he faced in getting it published. It also focuses on the brilliant book design by Ernest Reichl, who Scotford calls “a ‘whole book’ designer, believing…

The Ex-Gay Cry Censorship: No One Wants Their Books October 23, 2009

The headline of the story on FOX News is a doozy: “Gay Reversal Advocates Say School Libraries Banning Their ‘Ex-Gay’ Books.” A Chicago-based group, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), is suing the Montgomery County, MD school district for their purported “exclusion of “ex-gay” information in its sexual orientation health curriculum.“ PFOX (I am assuming no relation to FOX) says “there’s an entire community of people across the world who say that their…

Banned Books Week Coming Soon August 12, 2009

Banned Books Week is scheduled for September 26th- October 3rd, 2009. Every time we think that banning books in the United States is a thing of the past, we are sorely reminded that there are still many who believe that removing books from book stores and library shelves will make the social issues that the books represent go away and that the world will be a better place. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression…