Presents a thorough analysis of the current state of book banning in schools and public libraries, offering ready reference material on major incidents, legal cases, and annotated entries on the most frequently challenged books.

Since it was established in 1967, ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has championed the rights of library users to seek and receive information on all subjects from all points of view without restriction and without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others. The new edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual is more than just an invaluable compendium of guiding principles and policies. It's also an indispensable resource for day-to-day guidance on maintaining free and equal access to information for all people.

The new censorship of the arts, some cultural critics say, is just one more item on the new Right's agenda, and is part and parcel of attempts to regulate sexuality, curtail female reproductive rights, deny civil rights to gays and lesbians, and privatize public institutions. Although they do not contest this assessment, the writers gathered here expose crucial difficulties in using censorship, old and new, as a tool for cultural criticism. Focusing on historical moments ranging from early modern Europe to the postmodern United States, and covering a variety of media from books and paintings to film and photography, their essays seek a deeper understanding of what censorship, criticism, and the public sphere really mean.