Please Ban All My Books!

Bans are a sign of cultural bankruptcy. But …

Earlier this year, at a book festival I was attending to promote my novel How Lucky, I ran into an author whose (excellent) book had shown up on a banned book list. This author was despairing about the concept of book banning, about what it said about our current cultural discourse, but, all told, this author did not seem hugely upset to have their particular book banned.

“It’s been incredible for sales,” they said. “More people are talking about my book than ever have before.”

President Obama wrote here on Medium just last week about Banned Books Week — to be clear, Banned Books Week is against the banning of books, not for it — and his words were as vital and eloquent as you’d expect.

We share a common humanity. If we listen to each other instead of trying to silence certain voices and shut down debate, we can see each other for who we are and maybe even change some minds — or at least agree to live together. If we don’t, we’ll only grow further apart.

And he’s right, obviously: Book banning is very bad. The practice of it is bad, the concept of it is bad, the execution of it is bad. Book banning is the sign of an unhealthy culture.