Banned Books and Modern Censorship

So last week in class we talked about censorship and the arbitrary way in which the characters in Don Quixote chose which books were acceptable. Personal variables in criticism are bad, but this list, provided by Time, shows that personal viewpoints are really the only opinions that get books banned or protested like when it was argued that Brave New World opposes an optimistic view point. This is most seen in reference to the Harry Potter series, which anyone who had read and enjoyed them cannot really imagine it's promotion of devil worship. However, I didn't know before reading this article that Salmon Rushdie had a price on his head and had to hide for ten years after publishing The Satanic Verses. I really enjoyed this article: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838_1845265,00.html

But if you don't have time here's the short version:

Candide by Voltaire

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (some said that it promoted communism...hmmm?)

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (not too surprising, even if Dr. Sexson recites the first paragraph beautifully)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (on one account because it depicts racism graphically...but isn't that the point?)

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell (who later apologized for the novel, but since he no longer owns the rights, he can't get it banned or even stop publishing it)

The Satanic Verses Salmon Rushdie

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling