Books are a gray area...

Books are a gray area...
Photo by austinevan

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Banned books and other forms of censorship: Independent bookstore in Moscow challenged

While I really want to focus on book challenges and bans in the U.S., it would be pretty narrow minded of me not to bring up anything about the books challenged and banned all over the world. Let us always remember that the freedoms that let us challenge books are the same that let us keep them.

I came across this great blog that has a number of international censorship concerns.

Banned books and other forms of censorship: Independent bookstore in Moscow challenged

What is really interesting is the mention of how the market is getting monopolized by megabookstores. While not censored, sometimes smaller independent stores have to deal with the pressures of not being able to compete with larger chains. It's much easier to control one large thing that a bunch of small ones. Something we might have to watch out for in the future...

Also on this blog is a little about the distruction of libraries in Iran since the 1980's. Perhaps it's just because I'm so much of a bibliophile, but I feel that the destruction of those books, the lost culture and history, is a crime against humanity.

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