Should certain Books be banned?
In the USA, the First Amendment protects a person's freedom of speech and protects books from being censured. Most European Countries have similar laws. However, there are in fact some books that are illegal to sell, buy and own. Then there are those books - mostly very controversial ones - where people call for them to be banned. One example would be The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, which I am currently reading (Feb. 2024). The controversy around this novel caused me to dive into the subject of banning books. What got me curious - The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell To start off, I´d like to introduce this piece of fiction and its content. The lengthy novel (975 pages in my edition) was published in 2006 and immediately raised a heated debate about whether this is a book appropriate to print and distribute, which helped spread its popularity - it did become a bestseller. Quite a number of critics and other people have called for The Kindly Ones to be banned. So, what is i...