Book censorship

Chilean soldiers burn books considered politically subversive in 1973, under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.

Book censorship is the act of some authority taking measures to suppress ideas and information within a book. Censorship is "the regulation of free speech and other forms of entrenched authority".[1] Censors typically identify as either a concerned parent, community members who react to a text without reading, or local or national organizations.[2] Books have been censored by authoritarian dictatorships to silence dissent, such as the People's Republic of China, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Books are most often censored for age appropriateness, offensive language, sexual content, amongst other reasons.[3] Similarly, religions may issue lists of banned books, such as the historical example of the Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum and bans of such books as Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses by Ayatollah Khomeini,[4] which do not always carry legal force. Censorship can be enacted at the national or subnational level as well, and can carry legal penalties. In many cases, the authors of these books could face harsh sentences, exile from the country, or even execution.

  1. ^ Chapman, Roger; Ciment, James (2014). Culture Wars in America : an Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices (2nd ed.). Armonk, New York. ISBN 978-0765683175. OCLC 881383488.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Swan, John. 1991. "The Satanic Verses," the "Fatwa," and Its Aftermath: A Review Article. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy 61.4:429–443