Political Ideologies, Fourth Edition: An Introduction
by Andrew Heywood
from Palgrave Macmillan
The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up
by Liao Yiwu
from Pantheon
The Corpse Walker is a compilation of twenty-seven extraordinary oral histories that opens a window, unlike any other, onto the lives of ordinary, often outcast, Chinese men and women. Liao Yiwu (one of the best-known writers in China because he is also one of the most censored) chose his subjects from the bottom of Chinese society: people for whom the “new” China--the China of economic growth and globalization-—is no more beneficial than the old. By asking challenging questions with respect and empathy, he manages to get his subjects to talk openly about their lives.
Here are a professional mourner, a trafficker in humans, a leper, an abbot, a retired government official, a former landowner, a mortician, a feng shui master, a former Red Guard, a political prisoner, a village teacher, a blind street musician, a Falun Gong practitioner, and many others–people who have been battered by life but who have managed to retain their dignity, their humor, and their essential, complex humanity.
Liao crafted the interviews (conducted between 1990 and 2003) with sensitivity and patience, working both from notes and from his own memory of these remarkable conversations. The result is an idiosyncratic, powerful, and richly revealing portrait of a people, a time, and a place we might otherwise have never known.
The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn
by Diane Ravitch
from Vintage
The impulse in the 1960s and `70s to achieve fairness and a balanced perspective in our nation's textbooks and standardized exams was undeniably necessary and commendable. Then how could it have gone so terribly wrong? Acclaimed education historian Diane Ravitch answers this question in her informative and alarming book, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn. Author of 7 books, Ravitch served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993. Her expertise and her 30-year commitment to education lend authority and urgency to this important book, which describes in copious detail how pressure groups from the political right and left have wrested control of the language and content of textbooks and standardized exams, often at the expense of the truth (in the case of history), of literary quality (in the case of literature), and of education in general. Like most people involved in education, Ravitch did not realize "that educational materials are now governed by an intricate set of rules to screen out language and topics that might be considered controversial or offensive." In this clear-eyed critique, she is an unapologetic challenger of the ridiculous and damaging extremes to which bias guidelines and sensitivity training have been taken by the federal government, the states, and textbook publishers.
In a multi-page sampling of rejected test passages, we discover that "in the new meaning of bias, it its considered biased to acknowledge that lack of sight is a disability," that children who live in urban areas cannot understand passages about the country, that the Aesop fable about a vain (female) fox and a flattering (male) crow promotes gender bias. As outrageous as many of the examples are, they do not appear particularly dangerous. However, as the illustrations of abridgment, expurgation, and bowdlerization mount, the reader begins to understand that our educational system is indeed facing a monumental crisis of distortion and censorship. Ravitich ends her book with three suggestions of how to counter this disturbing tendency. Sadly, however, in the face of the overwhelming tide of misinformation that has already been entrenched in the system, her suggestions provide cold comfort. --Silvana TropeaIf you’re an actress or a coed just trying to do a man-size job, a yes-man who turns a deaf ear to some sob sister, an heiress aboard her yacht, or a bookworm enjoying a boy’s night out, Diane Ravitch’s internationally acclaimed The Language Police has bad news for you: Erase those words from your vocabulary!
Textbook publishers and state education agencies have sought to root out racist, sexist, and elitist language in classroom and library materials. But according to Diane Ravitch, a leading historian of education, what began with the best of intentions has veered toward bizarre extremes. At a time when we celebrate and encourage diversity, young readers are fed bowdlerized texts, devoid of the references that give these works their meaning and vitality. With forceful arguments and sensible solutions for rescuing American education from the pressure groups that have made classrooms bland and uninspiring, The Language Police offers a powerful corrective to a cultural scandal.
100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature
by Nicholas J. Karolides
from Checkmark Books
Throughout history, writers have had their works of literature and social, political, and religious thought censored in the United States and around the world. 100 Banned Books profiles 25 well-known, often classic works in each of these categories that have especially significant censorship histories. Each clearly written entry in this eye-opening book gives readers a summary of the work, its censorship history, and suggestions for further reading.
Among the works covered are: Political Grounds: Animal Farm, Dr. Zhivago, The Grapes of Wrath, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and more Religious Grounds: The Bible, The Koran, The Talmud, Oliver Twist, and more Sexual Grounds: Lolita, Madame Bovary, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Ulysses, and more Social Grounds: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Canterbury Tales, Black Like Me, and more.
Intellectual Freedom Manual
from American Library Association
Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (Information Revolution and Global Politics)
from The MIT Press
Many countries around the world block or filter Internet content, denying access to information--often about politics, but also relating to sexuality, culture, or religion--that they deem too sensitive for ordinary citizens. Access Denied documents and analyzes Internet filtering practices in over three dozen countries, offering the first rigorously conducted study of this accelerating trend.
Internet filtering takes place in at least forty states worldwide including many countries in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Related Internet content control mechanisms are also in place in Canada, the United States and a cluster of countries in Europe. Drawing on a just-completed survey of global Internet filtering undertaken by the OpenNet Initiative (a collaboration of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, and the University of Cambridge) and relying on work by regional experts and an extensive network of researchers, Access Denied examines the political, legal, social, and cultural contexts of Internet filtering in these states from a variety of perspectives. Chapters discuss the mechanisms and politics of Internet filtering, the strengths and limitations of the technology that powers it, the relevance of international law, ethical considerations for corporations that supply states with the tools for blocking and filtering, and the implications of Internet filtering for activist communities that increasingly rely on Internet technologies for communicating their missions.
Reports on Internet content regulation in forty different countries follow, with each country profile outlining the types of content blocked by category and documenting key findings.
Contributors:
Ross Anderson, Malcolm Birdling, Ronald Deibert, Robert Faris, Vesselina Haralampieva, Steven Murdoch, Helmi Noman, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, Mary Rundle, Nart Villeneuve, Stephanie Wang, and Jonathan Zittrain
Censored 2008: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006-07 (Censored)
from Seven Stories Press
"Carefully orchestrated. . . . This well-researched work is highly recommended for most libraries."-Library Journal (starred review)
"Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this collection of suppressed stories allows us."-The San Diego Review
"Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens."-Los Angeles Times
The best-selling Censored series highlights the year's twenty-five most important underreported news stories, alerting readers to negligence of corporate media and the resurgence of alternative media.
Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored, is an associate professor of sociology at Sonoma State University. He is known for his pieces in the alternative press and independent newspapers nationwide, such as Z Magazine and Social Policy.
Project Censored, founded in 1976 by Carl Jensen, has as its principal objective the advocacy for and protection of First Amendment rights and the freedom of information in the United States.
Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries throughout History
by Lucien X. Polastron
from Inner Traditions
A historical survey of the destruction of knowledge from ancient Babylon and China to modern times
• Includes the three separate destructions of the Library of Alexandria as well as many equally significant collections around the world
• Examines the causes of violence directed at repositories of knowledge
• Looks at the dangers posed by digitalization of books to the free availability of knowledge in the future
Hebrew, Hindu, Nordic, and Islamic traditions share the belief of a vast library existing before the creation of the world. The Vedas say that this library predated the creator’s creation of himself. Yet, almost as old as the idea of the library is the urge to destroy it. The reasons cited for this are many: educated people are much harder to govern, and some proclaim that only the illiterate can save the world. There are also great destructions brought about by weather, worms, and even the paranoia of the library’s owner.
Books on Fire traces the history of this perpetual destruction from the burning of the great library of Alexandria (on three separate occasions) and the libraries of the Chinese Qing Dynasty to more modern catastrophic losses such as those witnessed in Nazi-occupied Europe and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The author examines the causes for these disasters, the treasures that have been lost, and where the surviving books, if any, have ended up. His investigation also reveals a new danger facing libraries today with the digitalization of books threatening both the existence of the physical paper book and the very idea of reading for free. The promise of an absolute library offered by the computer may well turn out to equal the worst nightmares of Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell.
Books on Fire received the 2004 Société des Gens de Lettres Prize for Nonfiction/History in Paris.
The New Inquisition: Understanding and Managing Intellectual Freedom Challenges
by James LaRue
from Libraries Unlimited
How can you become an effective advocate for intellectual freedom and patron privacy while maintaining a positive relationship with diverse elements of your community? Drawing on his experience as library director, this author advocates assuming a proactive role in every library function, from collection building to community outreach. This approach helps you understand the people who challenge library materials--as individuals and as members of various groups--turning enemies into allies, and building an intellectual, freedom-friendly community. You'll learn what materials get challenged and why and how you can effectively respond to challenges while meeting diverse community needs. Here are stories from the frontlines, practical guidelines on policies and procedures as well as common-sense tips on how to maintain your cool while dealing with specific groups or individuals--all presented with common sense and humor. If you have been struggling with challenges and wonder how you can uphold your ideals while dealing with harsh realities, this is the book you have been waiting for.
School Censorship in the 21st Century: A Guide for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists
by John S. Simmons
from Linworth Publishing
As we enter the 21st century, the access to information and freedom of speech provided by the Internet and other digital technologies has revolutionized the nature of censorship challenges, and opened an entirely new realm of legal and social ramifications for censorship in U.S. schools. In the midst of this digital revolution, traditional forms of censorship continue to take their toll on students' learning opportunities and teachers' instructional choices. School Censorship in the 21st Century: A Guide for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists offers a contemporary view of challenges to students' right to read and teachers' right to choose books and other instructional materials. Authored by experienced censorship opponents John S. Simmons and Eliza T. Dresang, this important volume offers insights into the nature of current censorship challenges, the historical and cultural context in which they occur in the United States, and the resources that exist for meeting these increasingly complex challenges.
Teachers and media specialists need to work with both students and school administrators to safeguard their schools against censorship attacks. By meeting potential challenges with a strong, united, and proactive approach, all members of a school community can help ensure an accessible and safe teaching and learning environment. "Guidelines for Teachers and Librarians" are included in the book at the end of most chapters, along with lists of recommended Web sites.
Don't get caught off guard by censorship! Use School Censorship in the 21st Century to prepare your school for challenges to the freedom to teach and learn.
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