Category Archives: Freedom of Speech

Ban This Book book actually banned

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Who could have imagined that an award winning children’s book titled Ban This Book would actually be banned and in the state of Florida of all places. The Indian River County School Board voted to remove “Ban This Book” by Alan Gratz from … Continue reading →

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It’s always nineteen eighty-four somewhere

Posted on June 9, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

George Orwell’s seminal novel turns seventy-five this week. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell posed a frightening question: could people be conditioned to actually believe (rather than just pretend to believe) the lies they are told ? Here we are 75 years later … Continue reading →

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Literary Leviathan

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was saddened to read about the death of the great American writer Paul Auster, who succumbed due to complications arising from lung cancer, aged 77. Auster, who has been celebrated as one of the most important American authors of … Continue reading →

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The Winston Smith Library of Victory & Truth

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Edinburgh-based artist Hans K Clausen is creating an innovative project titled “The Winston Smith Library of Victory and Truth.”  This visual art installation/ sculpture/ library will be centered solely on George Orwell’s iconic novel 1984 and be built from  1,984 … Continue reading →

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Freedom to Read

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I was recently asked by a TBTP follower from Europe if the issue of book banning in the United States was being overhyped in the press. Sadly, if anything the scourge of book bans, and even book burnings, is not … Continue reading →

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Let Freedom Read

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

The American Library Association has announced the theme for Banned Books Week 2023: “Let Freedom Read!” Banned Books Week will take place October 1 – 7, 2023. “As we’ve seen throughout National Library Week, as long as there are libraries, … Continue reading →

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Banned Book Club

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) launched a new program earlier this month called the Banned Book Club. The program gives users access to books that have been banned in their local libraries by using “GPS-based geo-targeting.” To use … Continue reading →

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La Biblioteca del Mondo

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Umberto Eco: A Library of the World is a wonderful new documentary about the bestselling Italian author with perhaps the greatest intellectual appetite of any writer of his time. Directed by Davide Ferrario, the documentary will launch in the U.S. beginning … Continue reading →

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Fat-Headed Censors

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

You would have to have been living under a basket to avoid the recent brouhaha over the re-editing of classic books by so-called sensitivity readers and editors. Here in the Colonies we’ve been through this with the books of Dr. … Continue reading →

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The Right to Read

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

In response to the ongoing rightwing hysteria of school students free access to books Federal legislation was introduced last week that would expand access to school libraries and codify student First Amendment Rights. The Right to Read Act (S. 5064 and H.R. … Continue reading →

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