Talk:Book Censorship in the United States

Aaron's comments
The Reasons for Censorship and Arguments against it section

Organizations like the American Literature Association have been at the center of Supreme Court cases instigated through the complaints of parents about libraries’ inclusion of certain material [doing what?]. This organization was established in 1876 to counter book censorship in America [how?].[1] They state through the Office of Intellectual Freedom that three of the main reasons that parents support the banning of books is that they believe the content is, “sexually explicit’, contained ‘offensive language’, and the materials was ‘unsuited to any age group’” [this is stated twice in the same section, choose one or the other].[2] Religion has also played a part in book censorship. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which came out in 1999,  were among the most challenged in the United States due to their portrayal of witchcraft. Religious values also take priority in the banning And Tango Makes Three. This children’s book, details a homosexual relationship between two penguins. The picture book was one of the most banned books from children’s libraries in the 2000s. Parents argued against its encouragement of anti-family values [too much detail for this section, might be better applied to the specific cases section]. Portrayals of drug ingestion can also lead a book to being banned such as the case with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The associations such as the ALA and the Freedom to Read Foundation have combated these claims against and argued in favor of these controversial texts [how?].[3] The organization advocate[s] for the First Amendment rights of these authors and the students. In addition, they state that books such as And Tango Makes Three normalizes homosexual relationships which ultimately encourages acceptance for homosexual couples among youth [too specific for this broad section]. As of the past ten years the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom were: the material was considered to be "sexually explicit" the material contained "offensive language" the material was "unsuited to any age group"[4] [already stated above] There are more than twenty reasons according to the American Library Association for censorship including: anti-ethnic, cultural sensitivity, racism, sexism, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, other offensive item, abortion, drug/alcohol/smoking, gambling, gangs, violence, suicide, homosexuality, sexually explicit, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, occult/satanism, unsuited for age group, inaccurate, technical errors, and other objections.[5]

'''[This section I feel misses the over arching purpose. While it has some elements that make it applicable it is very broad and misses a lot of opportunity. I feel that by looking at how the organizations you listed fight for books in schools and perhaps diving a little bit deeper into some of the underlying or major causes for banning (ie religion which you stated) would drastically improve this section. the framework is and good and it is a huge improvement on what used to be there, but it still has a little way to go.]'''

The Origins of Book censorship in America

Book censorship in the United States did not begin to play a prominent role in [American] society until the mid-nineteenth century. One of the first cases in America that was publicized was the banning of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in Trinity College and Cambridge [Citation needed]. The piece contains Darwin’s theory of evolution and has been banned in other parts of America, such as Tennessee, in the early twentieth century.[1] The practice of banning books become more prevalent in the mid-twentieth century as progressive writers such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot began their literary careers [examples why these authors books were found controversial might be useful].[2] The 1920s in Boston [Reword so that it is Boston in the 1920s...] brought the censorship of novels such as The American Mercury, Elmer Gantry and an American Tragedy, and Strange Interlude and Lady Chatterley’s Lover [Why?].[3] Many more books were censored in the state of Massachusetts during this period [very general]. After events such as World War I, the Red Scare, and The Great Depression this topic [book censorship not the 'topic'] was debated more as it was questioned if people had the authority take away authors’ free speech.[4] According to the U.S. federal political system [is this a specific institution or a fancy way of saying the US government?], it is the duty of the states to implant their educational policies.[5] The texts selected for the schools are ultimately approved by the state. School board’s [no need for the apostrophe], as part of the Tenth amendment, have the right to select which state-approved text should be placed in the libraries. Over the years [what years?], parents on the school board [expressly or parents of students in general?] have challenged their state’s selection of certain books for their libraries. Their '''[whose? be specific] main reasons [reasons should be singular] is in an effort to protect their children from content deemed by them as inappropriate [Citation]'''. This has led to cases in which books like Huckleberry Finn are banned from certain libraries because of the novel’s portrayal of African Americans. Supreme Court cases have derived from this subject matter[s] such as [the] Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982.[6] This case represents the school board’s desire to emplace certain values in the children versus the students’ First Amendment rights. The decision of the court stated that libraries could not deny students access to texts because of the books' content.[7] Cases on this issue continue to come up after this Supreme Court ruling [very general sentence].

'''[In general this section is well written and has little bias, however at times there are phrases that don't really fit within the guise of "Origins of Book Censorship in America" such as the Huckleberry Finn sentence towards the end o the paragraph. While for the most part you avoid sweeping generalizations without a basis there are a couple. I would say its neutral and contains good information that does a good job of providing a glimpse into the history of book censorship.] '''

Kittencrew (talk) 15:45, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Lilia's comments/suggestions
The Reasons for Censorship and Arguments against it Organizations like the American Literature Association have been at the center of Supreme Court cases instigated through the complaints of parents about libraries’ inclusion of certain material. This organization was established in 1876 to counter book censorship in America.[1] They state through the Office of Intellectual Freedom that three of the main reasons that parents support the banning of books is that they believe the content is, “sexually explicit’, contained ‘offensive language’, and the materials was ‘unsuited to any age group’”.[2] Religion has also played a part in [suggestion: served as a reason for] book censorship. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which came out in 1999, were among the most challenged in the United States due to their portrayal of witchcraft. Religious values also take priority in the banning And Tango Makes Three '''[<-- merge these two sentences? -->]'''. This children’s book details a homosexual relationship between two penguins. The picture book was one of the most banned books from children’s libraries in the 2000s. Parents argued against its encouragement of anti-family values [for "anti-family values", probably find a quote of this, or just quote it from an article to make sure its known that it's not your opinion]. Portrayals of drug ingestion can also lead a book to being banned such as the case with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The associations such as the ALA and the Freedom to Read Foundation have combated these claims against and argued in favor of these controversial texts.[3] The organization advocate[s] for the First Amendment rights of these authors and the students. In addition, they state that books such as And Tango Makes Three normalizes homosexual relationships which ultimately encourages acceptance for homosexual couples among youth [move this to after you were already talking about and tango makes three, a few sentences up?]. As of the past ten years the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom were:

the material was considered to be "sexually explicit" the material contained "offensive language" the material was "unsuited to any age group"[4] There are more than twenty reasons according to the American Library Association for censorship including: anti-ethnic, cultural sensitivity, racism, sexism, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, other offensive item, abortion, drug/alcohol/smoking, gambling, gangs, violence, suicide, homosexuality, sexually explicit, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, occult/satanism, unsuited for age group, inaccurate, technical errors, and other objections.[5]

'''[I really like how you handled this section by bringing in reasons for censorship and then mentioning specific books that have had that had those kinds of reasons for censorship. I would include arguments against censorship to neutralize the article and show the other side. I would suggest mentioning the reasons against censorship in this section, or to make a new section dedicated to arguments against censorship. if you do the latter, probably change the title to this section.] '''

Origins of Book Censorship in America Book censorship in the United States did not begin to play a prominent role in society until the mid-nineteenth century. One of the first cases in America that was publicized was the banning of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in Trinity College and Cambridge [date?]. The piece contains Darwin’s theory of evolution and has been banned in other [take out "other"?] parts of America, such as Tennessee, in the early twentieth century.[6] The practice of banning books become more prevalent in the mid-twentieth century as progressive writers such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot began their literary careers.[7] The 1920s in Boston brought the censorship of novels such as The American Mercury, Elmer Gantry and an American Tragedy, and Strange Interlude and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.[8] Many more books were censored in the state of Massachusetts during this period [such as?]. After events such as World War I, the Red Scare, and The Great Depression this topic [instead explicitly say "this topic of censorship"?] was debated more as it was questioned if people had the authority take away authors’ free speech.[9]

[new idea so indent the following into a new paragraph?]According to the U.S. federal political system, it is the duty of the states to implant their educational policies [find a direct quote?].[10] The texts selected for the [take out "the"?] schools are ultimately approved by the state. School board’s [no apostrophe], as part of the Tenth a[A]mendment, have the right to select which state-approved text should be placed in the libraries. Over the years, parents on the school board have challenged their state’s selection of certain books for their libraries. Their main reasons is in an effort to protect their children from content deemed by them as inappropriate. This has led to cases in which books like Huckleberry Finn are banned from certain libraries because of the novel’s portrayal of African Americans '''[a little more information on the kind of portrayal maybe? or just get rid of sentence altogether?]. Supreme Court cases have derived from this subject matter such as Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982 [confusing sentence]'''.[11] This case represents the school board’s desire to emplace certain values in the children versus the students’ First Amendment rights. The decision of the court stated that libraries could not deny students access to texts because of the books' content [maybe include a direct quote from the court decision, if you can find one].[12] Cases on this issue continue to come up after this Supreme Court ruling.

'''[This was also a great section with a lot of good information. I would include more direct quotes for some of the more opinionated statements. But overall these are well written and seem very encyclopedic with a lot of good information and a lot of good resources.]'''

--Lhd31 (talk) 15:46, 21 November 2016 (UTC)