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Banned Books Week, September 18th - 24th

Banned Books Week graphic. Books unite us. Censorship divides us.
"Banning books give us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight." - Stephen Chbosky

Banned Books Week is September 18th – 24th. Many people are surprised to learn that books are still being banned in our country today, but In April 2022, nonprofit organization PEN America found that 1,586 book bans targeting 1,145 unique books had occurred in the past nine months. In fact, according to the New York Times, more books are being challenged today at a pace not seen for decades.

The most controversial books are banned mainly due to issues of race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender. But other reasons for banning books can include religion (including the Bible), talking animals, or just a plain dislike of the subject matter or author. Check out some of the most banned books of the last ten years that are in our collection.

Banned Books Week List

Cover of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

Ned Blackhawk

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insisting that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non-Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis he shows that: European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success; Native nations helped shape England's crisis of empire; the first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior; California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War; the Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West; twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy. Blackhawk's retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB115217

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Cover of Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America.

Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America

Peter Rhoads Silver

Professor asserts that from the 1750s to the 1780s provincial leaders united the diverse European settlers of the rural mid-Atlantic colonies into a cohesive unit by using the fear and horror of Indian attacks. Posits that settlers became united against a common enemy and established democracy.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB067329

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Cover of The longest Trail: Writings on American Indian History, Culture, and Politics.

The Longest Trail: Writings on American Indian History, Culture, and Politics

Alvin M. Josephy

A collection of articles, speeches, papers, essays, and book introductions and chapters, provides a look at Native American history and policies related to their rights in North America. The time period covered stretches from the first settlements in the East to the long trek of the Nez Perce Indians in the Northwest.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB085126

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Cover of North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction.

North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction

Theda Perdue

Historians describe how indigenous North Americans shaped their cultures so that they could flourish on the land. Perdue and Green stress the diversity and resilience of native societies and describe the ways Native Americans have struggled to maintain their integrity against attacks by European colonists and the United States government.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB086321

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Cover of A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South.

A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South

Peter Cozzens

The Creek War is one of the most tragic episodes in American history, leading to the greatest loss of Native American life on what is now U.S. soil. What began as a vicious internal conflict among the Creek Indians metastasized like a cancer. The ensuing Creek War of 1813-1814 shattered Native American control of the Deep South and led to the infamous Trail of Tears, in which the government forcibly removed the southeastern Indians from their homeland. The war also gave Andrew Jackson his first combat leadership role, and his newfound popularity after defeating the Creeks would set him on the path to the White House. In A Brutal Reckoning, Peter Cozzens vividly captures the young Jackson, describing a brilliant but harsh military commander with unbridled ambition, a taste for cruelty, and a fraught sense of honor and duty. Jackson would not have won the war without the help of Native American allies, yet he denied their role and even insisted on their displacement, together with all the Indians of the American South in the Trail of Tears. A conflict involving not only white Americans and Native Americans, but also the British and the Spanish, the Creek War opened the Deep South to the Cotton Kingdom, setting the stage for the American Civil War yet to come. No other single Indian conflict had such significant impact on the fate of America-and A Brutal Reckoning is the definitive book on this forgotten chapter in our history.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB118142

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Cover of Indians of the Southeast: Then and Now

Indians of the Southeast: Then and Now

Jesse Clifton Burt

Conveys the religion, languages, life-style, food, games, dance, and music of the first Americans of the Southeast. Also tells of the arrival of the Europeans and the changes that took place as the Indians were outnumbered.

Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB014782

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Connect the Dots

Summer 2024

The latest edition of Connect the Dots is here, and as always it’s full of reading recommendations, national and community Talking Book Services updates, and much more. Listen now to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at SC TBS!

Summer 2024 (print version)