EVENT LOCATIONS: ELLIS LIBRARY 114A & ONLINE VIA ZOOM.

Cohen will discuss his forthcoming book anthology, Banning Books in America: Not a How-to. 

Since 2020, the U.S. has seen unprecedented efforts at the state and local level to exert control over what is taught and read by banning, challenging, or censoring books in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and public libraries. Beginning with criticisms of the 1619 Project and gathering steam with attacks on Critical Race Theory and DEI, these efforts have led to state legislatures, school boards, and city councils becoming culture war battlegrounds. In this talk, Sam Cohen will look at these contemporary battles in the contexts of the long history of book bans, of specific books challenged by them, and of the larger questions raised about the competing interests and values at play.

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