The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is considered one of the “Great American Novels” and a literary classic- the Modern Library, for example, ranks it as the second best English-language novel of the 20th Century. However, as one might expect, this literary cornerstone is also a commonly challenged book,...
’Twas the night before Christmas and someone stole Santa’s pipe. Yes, folks- yet another beloved tale from childhood has become the latest victim of the red pen of politically correct censorship as tradition and historical accuracy fall to ignorance and arrogance. The 18th-century poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”-...
Published in 1862 amid a massive advertising campaign and at a time when Hugo was adored as one of France’s foremost poets the release of the novel was a highly anticipated event. Critical reactions were often negative, though, as some critics found the subject matter immoral and others complained...
Katherine Paterson’s Bridge To Terabithia is a 1977 children’s literature classic about two fifth-graders, Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke, who create an imaginary kingdom named Terabithia in the woods where they rule as king and queen and where the only limit is their imaginations. A heartwarming tale of friendship...
Stephen King is one of the most recognizable names in literature. His horror-filled library of tales like Carrie and The Shining are classics on bookshelves and on the silver screen. His intense dramas exploring the human condition, such as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, are likewise celebrated....
As we approach Banned Book Week, we set our attention on the 9th most-banned book series of 2011, Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar. The book’s description says it all: “Welcome to New York City’s Upper East Side, where my friends and I live, go to school, play, and sleep–sometimes with each...
A little over one week from now will be the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, the bibliophile’s annual celebration of the freedom to read, which this year takes place from September 30-October 6, 2012. Sometimes we forget in our daily struggles just how important our intellectual freedom...
It is perhaps the most provocative foreign policy issue of our time- the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, the man responsible for the largest foreign attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor. Like Pearl Harbor, which resulted in the United States officially entering World War II, the events of...
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, also referred to as The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion, is an anti-Semitic hoax first published in Russia in 1903 claiming to document the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting of Jewish leaders discussing their goal of...
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, was first published in 1939 and would achieve both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize that same year. When Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 the novel was referenced frequently. TIME magazine lists it as one of...