Banned Books

Literature

'Roots' Returns to Knox County Schools — But the Fight Isn't Over

A Tennessee school district reversed its ban on Alex Haley's classic just weeks after removing it. What this decision reveals about American literary censorship.

Literature

The Books That Endure: Why Alex Haley's 'Roots' Is Still Dangerous Fifty Years On

A Tennessee school district has banned Alex Haley's Pulitzer-winning Roots from its libraries over a single paragraph. When a book still unsettles people after half a century, the discomfort is worth examining.

Reviews

When Facts Get Banned: PEN America's Report on the New Wave of Nonfiction Censorship

PEN America's new report documents a surge in banning nonfiction — history, science, memoir. Because facts, in certain school districts, have become the most dangerous genre of all.

Reviews

Librarians Are Running for Office. Maybe They Should Have Done It Sooner.

Across the United States, library professionals are running for state political offices, motivated by book ban records. When shelves get emptied, someone has to change who decides what goes on them.

News

The Most Challenged Books of 2025: A Statistic Worth Reading Carefully

The American Library Association logged 4,235 challenged titles in 2025 — the second-highest year on record. Only 2.7% of those challenges came from parents. The rest came from people with considerably more institutional power.