Banned Books: Classics That Were Banned

Read 7 classics that were banned because of their radicalism or power. All 7 books have been carefully selected and optimized for reading on the Kindle.

Voltaire’s Candide was banned for its scathing satire. It was banned almost immediately upon publication in 1759 and U.S. customs seized copies of the book as late as the 1930s

James Joyce’s Ulysses was banned directly or indirectly all over the English-speaking world for its obscenity. The book was not easily obtained until 1934 when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals made the book freely available in the U.S. in the landmark case of United States v. One Book Called Ulysses. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter have likewise been banned or censored many times for its alleged obscenity.

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin have both recently (re)found the attention of would-be censors due to their outdated portrayal of black characters.

Jack London’s The Call of The Wild was banned and burned in Nazi-Germany due to its perceived radicalism and London’s socialist leanings.

Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage has been the victim of would-be censors since the 1980s due to its alleged profanity.

The Books

• Candide
• Ulysses
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among The Lowly
• The Call of The Wild
• The Red Badge of Courage
• The Scarlet Letter