h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice article you've written there bluDragon, well researched too.
It also nicely illustrates the power of the US constituion (and ammendments).
Shame we don't have anything like over this side of the atlantic.
What with the furore by the government of the time over the book Spycatcher (former MI5 agent's memoirs) people just went and got it from outside this country.
One thought I have had is that all the books listed have been published, which means that they have survived one type of censorship regime to be tried in another. I do believe that the memoir of Chris Patten (the last governor of Hong Kong), East and West, was dropped by it's initial publisher due to the disaproval of higher ups within the publishers ownership.

That is an often overlooked, but EXCELLENT point!
In a society where things are banned, it also creates an environment where other things never even GET published. This is even more dangerous. Books dont get published, or if published, bookstores are afraid to stock them, so no one can find them.

One of the [many] quotes I left out of the article address just this point. This is from the introduction to the ALA Banned Book Week site:
[emphasis is mine]

"The fear of the consequences of censorship is as damaging as, or perhaps more damaging than, the actual censorship attempt. After all, when a published work is banned, it can usually be found elsewhere. ****Unexpressed ideas, unpublished works, unpurchased books are lost forever."*******

An atmosphere of censorship encourages and reinforces a repressive society. The US Bill of Rights is a wondrous thing, and mostly unappreciated by citizens of the country. Americans have NO IDEA of what it is like to live in a repressive society. And we also must fight censorship continually.

One of my favorite quotes is "One of the main responsibilities of a free society is the protection of the minority from the majority". [I have no idea who said that.]

*stands on soap box, waves flag wildly, plays 'Star&Stripes Forever' on kazoo, throws red, white and blue confetti up in the air*

Oh please get down, you don't have to do that, this is an international site (mummble, mummble, something about the percieved American view of the world by the rest of the world, mummble, mummble)

Thank goodness I also live in a free society, in as much as one that has laws entitled with such things as the Official Secrets Act, but I do know that it could be much, much worse.

At least the Internet is providing an outlet for people who do live in repressive societies, so they can put their views out there, or at least pass information about what is going on to the outside world.

sorry, got carried away.
There are many places in the world where 'freedom rings'.

*brushes confetti off, spits kazoo out*

However, I get really ticked by my fellow Americans who rant about their loss of 'freedom and individuality' and all the 'government controls'.

They should visit the Amnesty International site sometime...

}:=8