What can we read?

United States • America's culture wars are fought in political debates, in demonstrations on the streets and in countless family discussions as well. They're also being fought in classrooms and, more recently, in libraries. According to the writers' organization PEN America, more than 1,600 titles were removed from libraries across 32 states between July 2021 and June 2022. The American Library Association says censorship attempts doubled during 2022, reaching 1,269 — the highest rate in decades.

Calls for bans on certain books are becoming more numerous and also wider in scope. At least ten states have recently passed laws giving parents more power over what books school libraries keep in stock. Community libraries are also being targeted. No state bans more books than Texas. In Llano County, local authorities even discussed closing three public librariesafter a federal judge ordered them to return books that had been removed.

Most of the books under attack are about issues of gender or race. The bans are a conservative backlash against the diversification of school library books and curricula. The pandemic may have also played a role, giving parents a clearer idea of what their children were reading in school and increasing parent activism — in opposition to mask-wearing rules, for example.