Breaking Bad by Banning Great Books

Kenneth R. Jenkins

As a writer, I am appalled by the way a Republican Florida Governor, whose name I will not dignify myself or say his name on the account I might slip and cuss, bothers to bad books that some were classics that stood the test of time.

I find the long list of books mentioned online, and to my shock and surprise, some books have been classics since I can remember. Here are some of the books that have been listed as books banned by governments:

The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio, 1353 Story collection banned from US mail under the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (Comstock Law) of 1873, which banned the sending or receiving of works containing “obscene”, “filthy”, or “inappropriate” material.

The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, late 14th century. Story collection banned from US mail under the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (Comstock Law) of 1873, which banned the sending or receiving of works containing “obscene”, “filthy”, or “inappropriate” material. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents. This is a book that I remembered reading in high school, and they’re going to ban it, wow!

Tropic of Cancer (1934), Henry Miller, 1934 Novel. (fictionalized memoir) Banned in the US in the 1930s until the early 1960s, seized by US Customs for sexually explicit content and vulgarity. The rest of Miller’s work was also banned by the US. Also banned in South Africa until the late 1980s.

The Grapes of Wrath (1939) John Steinbeck 1939 Novel. Was temporarily banned in many places in the US. In the state of California, in which it was partially set, it was banned for its alleged unflattering portrayal of residents of the area.

“The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison (Reasons: Rape, incest, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) content).

Even books from Mark Twain, like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and even Dr. Seuss, are they for real?

Guess which book could be next, along with other banned books? The Bible. Yes, you heard me right, the Bible. The Word of God!

It is bad enough that prayer is banned in schools, but not having Bibles in school libraries is a shame before God.

A lot of these books and many more have been favorited for so many years for so many people who grew up reading them during their lifetime and still enjoy reading these same books today.

These are the days where everybody’s putting a wet blanket on some of the things that are good, making it look ugly.

Books about having two moms or two dads in the library, but they do leave me to think who are the hypocrites playing one side from another. A double standard, talking and not saying anything, is not worth it.

The books of Dr. Seuss, I am sure, we grew up on as a child and should stay on the shelves because it does help kids like me learn how to read and write poetry.

Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison are having their voices silenced, censored so that their freedom, even in written formed is being squeezed out, keeping our future generations from being exposed to great literature as we did then.

Finally, I want singer Cyndi Lauper to give the last word on the subject that sums up this article in the first place….

“The attack on free speech is an attack on all of us. When books are banned, ideas are imprisoned.”

Kenneth R. Jenkins is a freelance writer, poet, minister, podcaster, and devoted husband living in Savannah, GA