List of books banned by governments

Banned books are books or other printed works such as essays or plays which have been prohibited by law, or to which free access has been restricted by other means. The practice of banning books is a form of censorship, from political, legal, religious, moral, or commercial motives. This article lists notable banned books and works, giving a brief context for the reason that each book was prohibited. Banned books include fictional works such as novels, poems and plays and non-fiction works such as biographies and dictionaries.

Since there have been a large number of banned books, some publishers have sought out to publish these books. The best-known examples are the Parisian Obelisk Press, which published Henry Miller's sexually frank novel Tropic of Cancer, and Olympia Press, which published William Burroughs's Naked Lunch. Both of these, the work of father Jack Kahane and son Maurice Girodias, specialized in English-language books which were prohibited, at the time, in Great Britain and the United States. Ruedo ibérico [es], also located in Paris, specialized in books prohibited in Spain during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Russian literature prohibited during the Soviet period was published outside of Russia.

Many countries throughout the world have their own methods of restricting access to books, although the prohibitions vary strikingly from one country to another.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the opposition from the American Library Association (ALA), books continue to be banned by school and public libraries across the United States. This is usually the result of complaints from parents, who find particular books not appropriate for their children (e.g., books with graphical depictions of child sex, like Gender Queer: A Memoir). In many libraries, including the British Library and the Library of Congress, erotic books are housed in separate collections in restricted access reading rooms. In some libraries, a special application may be needed to read certain books.^[1] Libraries sometimes avoid purchasing controversial books, and the personal opinions of librarians have at times affected book selection.

The following list of countries includes historical states that no longer exist.

The distribution, promotion and translation of the Bible have been prohibited or impeded throughout its history.^[2] Violators of Bible prohibitions have at times been punished by imprisonment, forced labor, banishment and execution, as well as the destruction or confiscation of the Bibles. Restrictions of the distribution and promotion of the Bible are ongoing in various jurisdictions.

Title	Author(s)	Year published..	Type	Notes
Përbindëshi (The Monster) (1965)	Ismail Kadare	1965–1990	Novel	Banned for 25 years in Albania.[3]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Lolita (1955)	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	Novel	Banned for being "obscene".[4]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Year Banned	Year Unbanned	Type	Notes
The Decameron	Giovanni Boccaccio	1353	1927	1936	Story collection	Banned in Australia from 1927 to 1936 and from 1938 to 1973.[5]
The 120 Days of Sodom (1789)	Marquis de Sade	1789	1957	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned by the Australian Government in 1957 for obscenity.[6]
Droll Stories	Honoré de Balzac	1837	1901, 1928	1923, 1973	Short stories	Banned for obscenity from 1901 to 1923 and 1928 to c.1973.[7][8]
The Straits Impregnable	Sydney Loch	1916	1914	*Unknown*	Fictionalised Autobiography	First edition published as a novel, second edition banned by the military censor in Australia under regulations of the War Precautions Act 1914.[9]
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)	D. H. Lawrence	1928	1929	1965	Novel	Banned from 1929 to 1965.[10][11]
Rowena Goes Too Far (1931)	H. C. Asterley	1931	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned in Australia because of customs belief that it "lacked sufficient claim to the literary to excuse the obscenity"[12]
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley	1932	1932	1937	Novel	Banned in Australia from 1932 to 1937.[10]
The Cautious Amorist	Norman Lindsay	1932	1933	1953	Novel	Banned in Australia from 1933 to 1953.[13]
Age of Consent	Norman Lindsay	1938	1938	by 1939	Novel	Banned in Australia, briefly, in 1938.[14]
Forever Amber (1944)	Kathleen Winsor	1944	1945	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned by Australia in 1945 as "a collection of bawdiness, amounting to sex obsession."[15][16]
Borstal Boy	Brendan Behan	1958	1958	*Unknown*	Autobiographical novel	Banned shortly after its ban in Ireland in 1958.[17]
Another Country	James Baldwin	1962	1963	1966	Novel	Banned in Australia by the Commonwealth Customs Department in February 1963. The Literature Censorship Board described it as "continually smeared with indecent, offensive and dirty epithets and allusions," but recommended that the book remain available to "the serious minded student or reader." The ban was lifted in May 1966.[18]
Ecstasy and Me	Hedy Lamarr	1966	1967	1973	Autobiography	Banned in Australia from 1967 until 1973.[10]
The World Is Full of Married Men (1968)	Jackie Collins	1968	1968	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned in Australia in 1968.[10]
The Stud (1969)	Jackie Collins	1969	1969	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned in Australia in 1969.[10][further explanation needed]
The Anarchist Cookbook	William Powell	1971	1985	Currently banned	Instructional	The book was refused classification in 1985 thus making it banned in Australia under the National Classification Code Table 1.(c) for publications that could "promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence"[10][19][20]
How to make disposable silencers (1984)	Desert and Eliezer Flores	1984	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Instructional	An example of a class of books banned in Australia that "promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence".[21][22]
American Psycho	Bret Easton Ellis	1991	1991	1992 (ages 18+) *Unknown* (younger than 18)	Novel	Sale and purchase was banned in the Australian State of Queensland. Now available in public libraries and for sale to people 18 years and older. Sale restricted to persons at least 18 years old in the other Australian states.[23]
A Sneaking Suspicion (1995)	John Dickson	1995	2015	2015	Religious text	Banned by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities from state schools May 6, 2015, on the basis of a "potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner."[24] The ban was lifted May 18, 2015.
The Peaceful Pill Handbook (2007)	Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart	2007	2007	2007	Instructional manual on euthanasia	The book was initially restricted in Australia:[25] after review the 2007 edition was banned outright.[22][26][27]
You: An Introduction (2008)	Michael Jensen	2008	2015	2015	Religious text	Banned by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities from state schools May 6, 2015, on the basis of a "potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner."[24] The ban was lifted May 18, 2015.
No Game No Life (Volumes 1, 2, 9)	Yuu Kamiya	2012–2016	2020	*Unknown*	Novel	Light novel volumes banned in Australia due to depiction which "in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18".[28]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Year Banned	Year Unbanned	Type	Notes
The Sorrows of Young Werther	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	1774	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned by the authorities in the Austrian territories ruled by the Habsburg monarchy.[29]
Works	Karl Marx	1841–1883	1938	*Unknown*	Non-fiction	All of Marx's works were banned in Austria after the country was annexed by Nazi Germany.[29]
Works	Albert Einstein	1901–1938	1938	*Unknown*	Non-fiction	All of Einstein's works published up to 1938 were banned in Austria, after it was annexed by Nazi Germany.[29]
Mein Kampf (1925)	Adolf Hitler	1925	1947		Political manifesto	In Austria, the Verbotsgesetz 1947 prohibits the printing of the book. It is illegal to own[citation needed] or distribute existing copies.[30] Following the general prohibition of advocating the Nazi Party or its aims in § 3 and of re-founding Nazi organizations in § 1, § 3 d. of the Verbotsgesetz states: "Whoever publicly or before several people, in printed works, disseminated texts or illustrations requests, encourages or seeks to induce others to commit any of the acts prohibited under § 1 or § 3, especially if for this purpose he glorifies or advertises the aims of the Nazi Party, its institutions or its actions, provided that it does not constitute a more serious criminal offense, will be punished with imprisonment from five to ten years, or up to twenty years if the offender or his actions are especially dangerous."[30]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Rangila Rasul (1927)	Pandit M. A. Chamupati	1927	Religious	Currently banned in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.[31]
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam. Salman received a fatwa for his alleged blasphemy[32]
Naree (1992)	Humayun Azad	1992	Criticism	Banned in Bangladesh in 1995,[33] though the ban was later lifted in 2000.[34]
Lajja (1993)	Taslima Nasrin	1993	Novel	Banned in Bangladesh,[35][36] and a few states of India. Other books by her were also banned in Bangladesh or in the Indian state of West Bengal. Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, 2002), the first volume of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi government in 1999 for "reckless comments" against Islam and the prophet Mohammad.[37] Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), the second part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2002.[38] Ka (Speak up), the third part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi High Court in 2003. Under pressure from Indian Muslim activists, the book, which was published in West Bengal as Dwikhandita, was banned there also; some 3,000 copies were seized immediately.[39] The decision to ban the book was criticised by "a host of authors" in West Bengal,[40] but the ban was not lifted until 2005.[41][42] Sei Sob Ondhokar (Those Dark Days), the fourth part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2004.[43][44]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Uitgeverij Guggenheimer ("Guggenheimer Publishers") (1999)	Herman Brusselmans	1999	Novel	Banned in Belgium because this satirical novel offended fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester by making derogatory remarks about her personal looks and profession. A court decided the book was an insult to the individual's private life and ordered it to be removed from the stores.[45][46][47]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Mountain Wreath (1847)	Petar II Petrović-Njegoš	1847	Drama in verse	Banned in Bosnian schools by Carlos Westendorp.[citation needed]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Happy New Year (1975)	Rubem Fonseca	1975	Short stories	Banned in Brazil during the military dictatorship by order of the then Minister of Justice, Armando Falcão, under the accusation of "attacking morality and good habits". The author of the book, Rubem Fonseca, filed a lawsuit against the Brazilian government. In 1980, the case was tried for the first time and the judge upheld the ban, claiming that the work incited violence. The ban was lifted in 1985, with the end of the military dictatorship, but the book only received a new edition in 1989, when Fonseca appealed and won the case in court.[48][49]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2023)

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Droll Stories	Honoré de Balzac	1837	Short stories	Banned for obscenity in 1914.[50][8]
Lady Chatterley's Lover	D. H. Lawrence	1928	Novel	The unexpurgated United States edition was allowed to be imported by McClelland & Stewart in 1959.[51] The book's status as an obscene publication was not resolved until a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1962.[52]
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept	Elizabeth Smart	1945	Autobiographical prose poetry	Banned in Canada from 1945 to 1975 under the influence of Smart's family's political power due to its sexual documentation of Smart's affair with a married man.
The Naked and the Dead (1948)	Norman Mailer	1948	Novel	Banned in Canada in 1949 for "obscenity".[53]
Lolita (1955)	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	Novel	Banned in Canada in 1956. The ban was not enforced on imports of the Putnam edition from the United States and was lifted in late 1958.[54][55]
Peyton Place (1956)	Grace Metalious	1956	Novel	Banned in Canada from 1956 to 1958.[55]
How to Kill (series)	John Minnery	1973	Instructional	Banned in Canada in 1977.[56][57]
The Hoax of the Twentieth Century	Arthur Butz	1976	Non-fiction	Classified as "hate literature" in Canada with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police destroying copies as recently as 1995.[58]
The Turner Diaries	William Luther Pierce	1978	Novel	Classified as "hate literature" in Canada and subsequently banned from import into the country.[58]
Lethal Marriage	Nick Pron	1995	True crime	Written by a newspaper reporter about the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case, this book allegedly contains inaccuracies, additionally, complaints were received by the St. Catharines library board from the mother of a victim that led to the book being removed from all public library branches in the city.[58] As recently as 1999 this book was still unavailable to public library patrons in St. Catherines.[58]
Lost Girls	Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie	2006	Graphic novel	Importation was initially prohibited on publication in 2006. The prohibition was overturned in October 2006 after a formal appeal by the publisher to the Canada Border Services Agency determined the book was not legally obscene.[59]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
How to Read Donald Duck	Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart	1971	Non-fiction	Banned in Pinochet's Chile. The Chilean army publicly burned copies of the book.[60]
The House of the Spirits	Isabel Allende	1982	Novel	Banned in Pinochet's Chile.[61]
Clandestine in Chile	Gabriel García Márquez	1986	Non-fiction	Banned in Pinochet's Chile. On November 28, 1986, the Chilean customs authorities seized almost 15,000 copies of Clandestine in Chile, which were later burned by military authorities in Valparaíso.[62]

Title	Author	Year published	Year banned	Year unbanned	Type	Notes
The White Disease (1937)	Karel Čapek	1937	1938	1945	Play	Banned by government of Second Czechoslovak Republic in 1938.
Animal Farm (1945)	George Orwell	1946	1948	1968	Political novella	Banned by government in 1948.[113]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
A Feast for the Seaweeds (Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr)	Haidar Haidar	1983	Novel	Banned in Egypt and several other Arab states, and even resulted in a belated angry reaction from the clerics of Al-Azhar University upon reprinting in Egypt in the year 2000. The clerics issued a fatwa banning the novel, and accused Haidar of heresy and offending Islam. Al-Azhar University students staged huge protests against the novel, that eventually led to its confiscation.[114][115][116]
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
One Day of Life (1980)	Manlio Argueta	1980	Novel	Banned by El Salvador for its portrayal of human rights violations.[117]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (2005)	Michela Wrong	2005	History	Banned in Eritrea in 2014 for its criticism of President Isaias Afewerki.[118][failed verification]
My Father's Daughter (2005)	Hannah Pool	2005	Biography	Banned in Eritrea in 2014 for political content.[118][failed verification]
Scouting for the Reaper (2014)	Jacob M. Appel	2014	Fiction	Banned in Eritrea in 2014 for its criticism of civil liberties under President Isaias Afewerki.[118][failed verification]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Les Mœurs	François-Vincent Toussaint		Book	Officially banned in France in 1748.[119]
Madame Bovary (1856)	Gustave Flaubert	1856	Novel	After appearing as a successful serial in the Revue de Paris Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary went on trial in France on January 30, 1857, for "offenses against public morals", but did not succeed in court.
Lolita (1955)	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	Novel	French officials banned it for being "obscene".[4]
Suicide mode d'emploi (1982)	Claude Guillon	1982	Instructional	This book, reviewing recipes for committing suicide, was the cause of a scandal in France in the 1980s, resulting in the enactment of a law prohibiting provocation to commit suicide and propaganda or advertisement of products, objects, or methods for committing suicide.[120] Subsequent reprints were thus illegal. The book was cited by name in the debates of the French National Assembly when examining the bill.[121]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Berlin Garden of Erotic Delights	Erwin von Busse under the pseudonym "Granand"	1920	Short story collection	Banned for "indecency" by courts in Berlin and Leipzig[122]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Ivanhoe	Walter Scott	1819	Novel	Prohibited by Nazi Germany for featuring Jewish characters.[123]
Oliver Twist	Charles Dickens	1839	Novel	Prohibited by Nazi Germany for featuring Jewish characters.[123]
The Communist Manifesto	Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels	1848	Political Manifesto	Prohibited by several countries, including Nazi Germany.[124]
Works	Stefan Zweig	1900–1933	Plays, Novels, Non-fiction	All of Zweig's books published up to 1933 were banned by the Nazis in that same year.[125]
Works	Sigmund Freud	1901–1933	Non-fiction	All of Freud's books published up to 1933 were banned by the Nazis in that same year.[125]
The Iron Heel	Jack London	1908	Novel	Banned by the Nazis along with two other London novels, Martin Eden and The Jacket.[125]
Works	Bertolt Brecht	1918–1933	Plays, Novels, Poetry, Non-fiction	All of Brecht's books published up to 1933 were banned by the Nazis in that same year.[125]
The Outline of History	H. G. Wells	1920	Non-fiction	Wells' book was banned in Nazi Germany.[125]
The World of William Clissold	H. G. Wells	1926	Novel	Banned in Nazi Germany in 1936. A further note to the banning order added that "all other works by the author" were to be suppressed.[126]
All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria Remarque	1929	Anti-war novel	Banned in Nazi Germany for being demoralizing and insulting to the Wehrmacht.[127][128]
Die Gesteinigten	Friedrich Forster	1933	Drama	Banned and printed copies pulped[129]
The Story of Ferdinand	Munro Leaf	1936	Children's fiction	Banned in Nazi Germany.[130]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Jungle	Upton Sinclair	1906	Novel	In 1956, it was banned in East Germany for its incompatibility with Communism.[131][132]

In today's Germany, a book is considered banned if it has been confiscated by a court. The distribution of a confiscated book is prohibited, but private possession and reading is still legal (with the exception of child and youth pornographic material, where possession is already a criminal offense).

The official list of confiscated books was published by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz) in the magazine "BzKJaktuell" until the beginning of 2022.

The list of confiscated books should not be confused with books on the "List of Media Harmful to Young Persons" (colloquially known as the "Index"). Books indexed by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons are subject to strict restrictions and may only be offered and sold to adults.^[133]

This list collectively lists media that violate one of the following paragraphs:

• Section 86: Dissemination of propaganda material of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations^[134]
• Section 86a: Use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations^[135]
• Section 130: Incitement of masses^[136]
• Section 130a: Instructions for committing criminal offences^[137]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Auschwitz - Die Erste Vergasung - Gerüchte und Wirklichkeit	Carlo Mattogno	2007	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Mannheim Regional Court in September 2012.[138] Unofficial title translation: Auschwitz, The First Gassing, Rumors and Reality
Auschwitz - Tätergeständnisse und Augenzeugen des Holocaust	Jürgen Graf	1994	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Mannheim Regional Court in November 1994.[139] Unofficial title translation: Auschwitz - Confessions of Perpetrators and Eyewitnesses of the Holocaust
Der Auschwitz-Mythos - Legende oder Wirklichkeit	Wilhelm Stäglich	1978	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Stuttgart Regional Court in May 1982.[140] Unofficial title translation: The Auschwitz Myth - Legend or Reality
Balisong - The Lethal Art of Filipino Knife Fighting	Sid Cambell, Gary Cagaanan, Sonny Umpad, published by Paladin Press	1986	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in May 1991.[141]
Black Book Companion - State-of-the Art Improvised Munitions	Published by Paladin Press	1990	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in July 1991.[142]
Die Chemie von Auschwitz - Die Technologie und Toxikologie von Zyklon B und den Gaskammern - Eine Tatortuntersuchung	Germar Rudolf	2017	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Darmstadt Regional Court in March 2018.[143] Unofficial title translation: The Chemistry of Auschwitz - The Technology and Toxicology of Zyklon B and the Gas Chambers - A Crime Scene Investigation
Cold Steel - Technique of Close Combat	John Styres, published by Paladin Press	1952	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in May 1991.[144]
Deathtrap! Improvised Booby-Trap Devices	Jo Jo Gonzales, published by Paladin Press	1989	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in July 1991.[145]
Dragons Touch - Weaknesses of the Human Anatomy	Master Hei Long, published by Paladin Press	1983	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in May 1991.[146]
Get Tough! How to Win in Hand-to-Hand Fighting	William E. Fairbairn, published by Paladin Press	1942	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in July 1991.[147]
Der Holocaust auf dem Prüfstand - Augenzeugenberichte versus Naturgesetze	Jürgen Graf	1992	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Weinheim Regional Court in September 1993.[148] Unofficial title translation: The Holocaust under scrutiny - eyewitness accounts versus natural laws
Der Holocaust-Schwindel	Jürgen Graf	1993	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Weinheim Regional Court in September 1993.[149] Unofficial title translation: The Holocaust Hoax
Home Workshop Explosives	Uncle Fester, published by Loompanics Unlimited	1990	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in July 1991.[150]
Homemade Guns and Homemade Ammo	Ronald B. Brown, published by Loompanics Unlimited	1986	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in July 1991.[151]
Mein Kampf	Adolf Hitler	1925	Political manifesto	In Germany, the copyright of the book was held by the State Government of Bavaria, and the Bavarian authorities prevented any reprinting from 1945 onward. This did not affect existing copies, which were available as vintage books. In 2016, following the expiration of the copyright, Mein Kampf was republished in Germany for the first time since 1945 as a commented edition by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte.[152] An uncommented reprint was confiscated by the Forchheim Regional Court in October 2016 for Incitement of masses.[153][154] Annotated editions are not affected by the confiscation.
The Poisoner's Handbook	Maxwell Hutchkinson, published by Loompanics Unlimited	1988	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in May 1991.[155]
Silent Death	Uncle Fester, published by Loompanics Unlimited	1989	Instructional	Confiscated by the Munich Regional Court in May 1991.[156]
Todesursache Zeitgeschichtsforschung	Jürgen Graf	1995	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Mannheim Regional Court in January 1996.[157] Unofficial title translation: Cause of death: Contemporary history research
Vorlesungen über den Holocaust - Strittige Fragen im Kreuzverhör	Germar Rudolf	2005	Holocaust denial	Confiscated by the Mannheim Regional Court in March 2007.[158] Unofficial title translation: Lectures on the Holocaust - Controversial Questions in Cross-Examination

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Lysistrata (411 BC)	Aristophanes		Play	Banned in 1967 in Greece because of its anti-war message.[159]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Mein Kampf (1925)	Adolf Hitler	1925	Political manifesto	Banned during the regime of Jorge Ubico along with anti-Hitler writings such as by those of Hermann Rauschning in order to encourage political neutrality in WWII.[160]
El Señor Presidente	Miguel Ángel Asturias	1946	Novel	Banned in Guatemala because it went against the ruling political leaders.[161]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Fugitive (Perburuan) (1950)	Pramoedya Ananta Toer	1950	Novel	Banned in Indonesia in 1950, for containing "subversive" material, including an attempt to promote Marxist–Leninist thought and other Communist theories. As of 2006, the ban is still in effect.[162]
All Chinese literature		1967	Literature and Culture	Presidential Instruction No. 14/1967 (Inpress No. 14/1967) on Chinese Religion, Beliefs, and Traditions effectively banned any Chinese literature in Indonesia, including the prohibition of Chinese characters.
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[163]
Interest	Kevin Gaughen	2015	Novel	Banned by the government of Indonesia for subversive and/or anti-government themes.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]
The Gods Laugh on Mondays (1995)	Reza Khoshnazar	1995	Novel	Was banned in Iran after men torched its publication house.[164]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Christianity not Mysterious	John Toland	1696	Non-fiction	Banned by the Irish Parliament for contradicting the teaching of the Anglican Church. Copies of the book were burnt by the public hangman in Dublin.[165]
Droll Stories	Honoré de Balzac	1837	Short stories	Banned for obscenity in 1953. The ban was lifted in 1967.[8]
Married Love	Marie Stopes	1918	Non-fiction	Banned by the Irish Censorship Board for discussing birth control.[166]
And Quiet Flows the Don	Mikhail Sholokhov	1928–1940	Novel Sequence	The English translations of Sholokhov's work were banned for "indecency".[167]
Elmer Gantry	Sinclair Lewis	1927	Novel	Elmer Gantry was banned in the Irish Free State.[168]
The House of Gold	Liam O'Flaherty	1929	Novel	The first book to be banned by the Irish Free State for alleged "indecency". Republished in 2013.[169]
A Farewell to Arms	Ernest Hemingway	1929	Novel	Suppressed in the Irish Free State.[167]
Marriage and Morals	Bertrand Russell	1929	Non-fiction	Suppressed in the Irish Free State for discussing sex education, birth control and open marriages.[167]
Commonsense and the Child	Ethel Mannin	1931	Non-fiction	Banned in the Irish Free State for advocating sex education for adolescents.[167]
The Bulpington of Blup	H. G. Wells	1932	Novel	Banned in the Irish Free State.[168]
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley	1932	Novel	Banned in Ireland in 1932, allegedly because of references of sexual promiscuity.[166]
The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind	H. G. Wells	1932	Non-fiction	Banned in the Irish Free State.[168]
Men of Good Will	Jules Romains	1932–1946	Novel Sequence	The English translations of Romains' novel sequence were banned in the Irish Free State.[167]
The Martyr	Liam O'Flaherty	1933	Novel	Banned in the Irish Free State.[168]
The Laws of Life	Halliday Sutherland	1935	Non-fiction	Banned in the Irish Free State for discussing sex education and Calendar-based contraceptive methods – even though The Laws of Life had been granted a Cum permissu superiorum endorsement by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster.[170]
Honourable Estate	Vera Brittain	1936	Novel	Banned in the Irish Free State.[167]
I Knock at the Door	Seán O'Casey	1939	Autobiography	Banned in Ireland.[170]
Dutch Interior	Frank O'Connor	1940	Novel	Banned in Ireland.[170]
The Tailor and Ansty	Eric Cross	1942	Non-fiction	Banned by the Irish censors for discussing sexuality in rural Ireland.[171]
Borstal Boy	Brendan Behan	1958	Autobiographical novel	Banned in Ireland in 1958. The Irish Censorship of Publications Board was not obliged to reveal its reason but it is believed that it was rejected for its critique of Irish republicanism and the Catholic Church, and its depiction of adolescent sexuality.[17]
The Country Girls	Edna O'Brien	1960	Novel	Banned by Ireland's censorship board in 1960 for its explicit sexual content.[172][173]
The Lonely Girl (1962)	Edna O'Brien	1962	Novel	Banned in Ireland in 1962 after Archbishop John Charles McQuaid complained personally to Justice Minister Charles Haughey that it "was particularly bad".[173]
The Dark	John McGahern	1965	Novel	Banned in Ireland for obscenity.[174]
My Secret Garden	Nancy Friday	1973	Non-fiction	Banned in Ireland for its sexual content.[175]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria Remarque	1928	Fiction	Banned in Fascist Italy because of its antimilitarism (currently not banned).[176]
A Farewell to Arms	Ernest Hemingway	1929	Fiction	Banned in Fascist Italy for depicting the Italian Army's defeat at the Battle of Caporetto (currently this book is not banned).[177]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Little Black Sambo (1899)	Helen Bannerman	1899	Children's story	Banned in Japan (1988–2005) to quell "political threats to boycott Japanese cultural exports", although the pictures were not those of the original version.[178]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Sophie's Choice (1979)	William Styron	1979	Novel	Banned in Lebanon for its positive depiction of Jews.[127]
Schindler's Ark (1982)	Thomas Keneally	1982	Novel	Banned in Lebanon for its positive depiction of Jews.[127]
The Da Vinci Code	Dan Brown	2003	Novel	Banned in September 2004 in Lebanon after Catholic leaders deemed it offensive to Christianity. (See Inaccuracies in The Da Vinci Code.)[127][179]
Grover's Eight Nights of Light	Jodie Shepherd	2017	Sesame Street book	Banned in 2017 for promoting Hanukkah.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]
Onward Muslim Soldiers	Robert Spencer	2003	Non-fiction	On July 12, 2007, the government of Malaysia announced a ban on Spencer's book, citing "confusion and anxiety among the Muslims" as the cause.[180]
Fifty Shades Trilogy	E L James	2011–12	Novel	The entire trilogy was banned in Malaysia from 2015 for containing "sadistic" material and "threat to morality".[181]
The Mask of Sanity (2017)	Jacob M. Appel	2017	Novel	Banned preemptively in Malaysia for blasphemy.[182]
Rebirth: Reformasi, Resistance, and Hope in New Malaysia	Kean Wong	2020	Non- fiction	Banned for containing insulting elements to the Malaysian coat of arms which is likely to be prejudicial to public order, security, national interest, alarm public opinion and contrary to any law, and therefore is "absolutely prohibited throughout Malaysia".[183]
Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective(2013–2022)	Boon Lin Ngeo	2013	Non-fiction	Banned for attempting to promote homosexual culture in Malaysia, which goes against religious and cultural sensitivities in the country.[184] In 2022, the ban was challenged through a judicial review petition in High Court of Kuala Lumpur. The court quashed the ban and ordered the Home Ministry of Malaysia to pay RM 5000 to the author.[185]
Peichi (Tamil: ''பேய்ச்சி'')	Ma. Naveen	2020	Novel	Banned for containing pornographic and immoral content.[186] Notably, it was the first Tamil language publication to be banned in the country.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Notre ami le roi (1993)	Gilles Perrault	1993	Biography of Hassan II of Morocco	Banned in Morocco. This book is a biography of King Hassan and examines cases of torture, killing, and political imprisonment said to have been carried out by the Moroccan Government at his orders.[187]
Le roi prédateur (2012)	Catherine Graciet and Éric Laurent	2012	Investigative Journalism	Banned in Morocco. This book makes allegedly "defamatory" accusations of corruption against Mohammed VI of Morocco, after investigating the exponential growth of his wealth.[188][189]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Rape of Sita (1993)	Lindsay Collen	1993	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Hindu goddess.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]
A Modern Approach to Social Studies (2010)	Unknown	2010	School textbook	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[190]
Self Study Material on Nepal's Territory and Border (2020)	Ministry of Education, Science and Technology	2020	Map book	Banned for irredentist views regarding the country's neighbors.[190][failed verification]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Cover-up General	Edwin Giltay	2014	Non-fiction thriller	Banned in the Netherlands by court order in 2015 as a former spy of Dutch military intelligence claimed she was described falsely in this Srebrenica book.[191] Ban lifted by the Court of Appeal of The Hague in 2016.[192][193]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Lolita (1955)	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	Novel	Banned for being "obscene"; uncensored in 1964.[4]
Borstal Boy	Brendan Behan	1958	Autobiographical novel	Banned shortly after its ban in Ireland in 1958. It was allowed to be published in New Zealand in 1963.[17]
The Peaceful Pill Handbook (2007)	Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart	2007	Instructional manual on euthanasia	Initially banned in New Zealand by Office of Film & Literature Classification since it was deemed to be objectionable.[194] In May 2008 an edited version of the book was allowed for sale if sealed and an indication of the censorship classification was displayed.
Into the River (2012)	Ted Dawe	2012	Novel	Banned in New Zealand in 2015; subsequently unrestricted in the same year.[195]
The Great Replacement (2019)	Brenton Harrison Tarrant	2019	Manifesto	The Christchurch shooter's manifesto was banned shortly after it appeared on the internet in 2019.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
My Watch (2005)	Olusegun Obasanjo	2014	Autobiography	Banned in Nigeria because this three-volume memoirs of the former Nigerian president were highly critical of nearly everyone in Nigerian politics. The books were ordered to be seized by the High Court in Nigeria until a libel case had been heard in court.[196]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen	Hans Jæger	1885	Novel	Sexually explicit.[197]
Albertine	Christian Krohg	1886	Novel	Sexually explicit.[198]
Snorri the Seal (1941)	Frithjof Sælen	1941	Fable	Satirical book banned during the German occupation of Norway.[199]
The Song of the Red Ruby	Agnar Mykle	1956	Novel	Sexually explicit. Ban lifted in 1958.[200]
Without a Stitch	Jens Bjørneboe	1966	Novel	Sexually explicit. The ban was never formally lifted.[201]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
On the Origins and Perpetual Use of the Legislative Powers of the Apostolic Kings of Hungary in Matters Ecclesiastical (1764)	Adam F. Kollár	1764	Political	Banned in the Papal States for arguments against the political role of the Roman Catholic Church.[202] Original title: De Originibus et Usu perpetuo.

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Noli Me Tángere	Jose Rizal	1887	Novel	Banned by Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines due to being critical to the Spanish government.[203]
El Filibusterismo	Jose Rizal	1891	Novel
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos	Primitivo Mijares	1976	Non-fiction	Banned for during the Martial Law period due to being critical of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos.[204]
The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos	Carmen Navarro Pedrosa		Biography	Banned in 1972, shortly after the start of the Martial Law period under President Ferdinand Marcos. The "unauthorized" biography was banned for the depiction of First Lady Imelda Marcos' extravagance.[204]
Tawid diwa sa pananagisag ni Bienvenido Lumbera: Ang Bayan, ang Nanunulat at ang Magasing Sagisag sa Imahinatibong Yugto ng Batas Militar 1975–1979	Dexter Cayanes			Research on the literary works by Bienvenido Lumbera, who was imprisoned during the Martial Law period under President Ferdinand Marcos. Banned in 2022 by the Commission on the Filipino Language (KWF) from public libraries and schools for being "anti-government".[205]
Teatro Political Dos	Malou Jacob			Banned in 2022 by the Commission on the Filipino Language (KWF) from public libraries and schools for being "anti-government". The works are previously published under the auspices of the KWF.[205]
Kalatas: Mga Kuwentong Bayan at Kuwentong Buhay	Rommel Rodriguez
May Hadlang ang Umaga	Don Pagusara
Labas: Mga Palabas ng Sentro	Reuel Aguilla			Banned in 2022 by the Commission on the Filipino Language (KWF) from public libraries and schools for being "anti-government[205]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Mirror of the Polish Crown (1618)	Sebastian Miczyński	1618	Anti-Semitic pamphlet	Because this pamphlet published in 1618 was one of the causes of the anti-Jewish riots in Cracow, it was banned by Sigismund III Vasa.[206]
Mein Kampf (1925)	Adolf Hitler	1925	Political manifesto	Banned until 1992.[127]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
História do Mundo para as Crianças (pt)	Monteiro Lobato	1933	Novel	The book was banned by the Portuguese government without any clear reason. According to the author, one possible reason was because he was from the "current of thought what claims that the discovery of Brazil happened 'by random'" or by the fact he "have registered the history of the 1600 years cut to the Arabian navy by Vasco da Gama".[207]
New Portuguese Letters (Novas Cartas Portuguesas)	Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa	1972		Banned as "pornographic and an offense to public morals"; authors charged with "abuse of the freedom of the press" and "outrage to public decency"; uplifted after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.[208]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Boys	Garth Ennis	2012	Comic book series	Banned in Qatar in 2012.[209][further explanation needed]
The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up (2012)	Jacob M. Appel	2012	Novel	Banned in Qatar in 2014 for its depiction of Islam.[210]
Love Comes Later (2014)	Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar	2014	Novel	Banned in Qatar.[211]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Thalia	Arius (AD 250 or 256 – 336)		Theological tract, partly in verse	Banned in the Roman Empire in the 330s+ for contradicting Trinitarianism. All of Arius writings were ordered burned and Arius exiled, and presumably assassinated for his writings.[212] Banned by the Catholic Church for the next thousand plus years.[citation needed]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Quran	Unknown		Religious text	In 2013, a Russian court censored the text under the country's 'extremism' laws.[213]
Rights of Man (1791)	Thomas Paine	1791	Political theory	Banned in Tsarist Russia after the Decembrist revolt.[214]
The Communist Manifesto	Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels	1848	Political Manifesto	Prohibited by several countries, including Tsarist Russia.[124]
Works	Friedrich Nietzsche	1872–1901	Non-fiction	Banned in Soviet Union since 1923 on proposal of Nadezhda Krupskaya. All works were placed on the list of forbidden books and kept in libraries only for restricted, authorized use.[215]
Looking Backward	Edward Bellamy	1888	Novel	Prohibited by the Tsarist Russian censors.[216]
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903)	Unknown	1903	A forgery, portraying a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world	Banned in various libraries and many attempts to ban in various nations, such as in Russia.[citation needed]
Mein Kampf (1925)	Adolf Hitler	1925	Political manifesto	Banned in the Russian Federation as extremist.[217]
Animal Farm	George Orwell	1945	Political novella	Completed in 1943, Orwell found that no publisher would print the book, due to its criticism of the USSR, an important ally of Britain in the War.[218] Once published, the book was banned in the USSR and other communist countries.[219]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)	George Orwell	1949	Novel	Banned by the Soviet Union[127] in 1950, as Stalin understood that it was a satire based on his leadership. It was not until 1990 that the Soviet Union legalised the book and it was re-released after editing.[220]
Doctor Zhivago	Boris Pasternak	1955–1988	Novel	Banned in the Soviet Union until 1988 for criticizing life in Russia after the Russian Revolution. When its author, Boris Pasternak, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 he was forced to reject it under government pressure.[127]
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)	Alexander Solzhenitsyn	1962	Novel	Banned from publication in the Soviet Union in 1964.[162]
The First Circle (1968)	Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn	1968	Novel	After Nikita Khrushchev was removed from power in 1964, all extant and forthcoming works by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were banned in the Soviet Union. This work details the lives of scientists forced to work in a Stalinist research center.[221]
The Gulag Archipelago (1973)	Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn	1973	Non-fiction	Banned in the Soviet Union because it went against the image the Soviet Government tried to project of itself and its policies.[222] However, it has been available in the former Soviet Union since at least the 1980s. In 2009, the Education Ministry of Russia added The Gulag Archipelago to the curriculum for high-school students.[223]
Apocalypse Culture	Adam Parfrey	1987	Non-fiction	Collection of articles, interviews, and documents that explore the various marginal aspects of culture. It was banned in Russia in July 2006 by court order for propaganda of drug use, owing to inclusion of David Woodard's essay "The Ketamine Necromance", after its first and only Russian publication by Ultra.Kultura (Ультра.Культура). All printed copies of that Russian edition were destroyed.
Siege	James Mason	1992	Non-fiction	Anthology of essays advocating for neo-Nazi revolution through terrorism. Banned on August 14, 2023.[224]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship	Bernard Leeman		History	Currently banned in Saudi Arabia for suggesting the Hebrews originated in Yemen and their Israelite successors established their original pre-586 B.C.E. kingdoms of Israel and Judah between Medina and Yemen.[citation needed]
Goat Days	Benyamin & Joseph Koyippally	2008	Novel	Currently banned in Saudi Arabia.[225][226]
Fazail-e-Amaal	Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi	Sometime between the 1920s and 1950s	Sufi evangalism	Currently banned in Saudi Arabia.[227][228]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Value, Price and Profit	Karl Marx	1865	Non-fiction	Banned under the Internal Security (Prohibition of Publications) (Consolidation) Order.[229]
Origin of Family, Private Property and State	Friedrich Engels	1884	Non-fiction
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back	Vladimir Lenin	1904	Non-fiction
Theories of Surplus Value	Karl Marx	1905	Non-fiction
Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution	Vladimir Lenin	1905	Non-fiction
Anarchism or Socialism?	Joseph Stalin	1907	Non-fiction
Fundamental Problems of Marxism	Georgi Plekhanov	1908	Political pamphlet
Heroines of the Modern Progress	Elmer C. Adams	1913	Non-fiction
The Right of Nations to Self-Determination	Vladimir Lenin	1914	Non-fiction
What Is to Be Done?	Vladimir Lenin	1917	Non-fiction
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism	Vladimir Lenin	1917	Non-fiction
State and Revolution	Vladimir Lenin	1917	Non-fiction
The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky	Vladimir Lenin	1918	Non-fiction
Friedrich Engels: A Biography	Gustav Mayer	1920	Biography
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder	Vladimir Lenin	1920	Non-fiction
On Cooperation	Vladimir Lenin	1923	Non-fiction
Problems of Leninism	Joseph Stalin	1926	Non-fiction
Time, Forward!	Valentin Katayev	1932	Novel
How the Steel Was Tempered	Nikolai Ostrovsky	1936	Novel
Marxism and the National and Colonial Question	Joseph Stalin	1937	Non-fiction
Combat Liberalism	Mao Zedong	1937	Non-fiction
The A to Z of the Soviet Union	Alex Page	1946	Non-fiction
Aspects of China's Anti-Japanese Struggle	Mao Zedong	1948	Non-fiction
The Case for Communism	William Gallacher	1949	Non-fiction
Twilight of World Capitalism	William Z. Foster	1949	Non-fiction
Concerning Marxism in Linguistics	Joseph Stalin	1950	Non-fiction
The Social and State Structure of the USSR	Alexander Karpinsky	1952	Non-fiction
The Satanic Verses	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned in 1989 for blasphemy against Islam.[32][230]
What Islam Is All About	Yahiya Emerick	1997	Religious education	Banned in 2018 for "promoting enmity among different religious communities".[231][232][233]
The Wisdom of Jihad	Abuhuraira Abdurrahman	2005	Non-fiction
Things that Nullify One's Islaam	Shaykh al-Islaam Muhammad ibn 'Abdil-Wahhaab	2013	Non-fiction
Red Lines: Political Cartoons and the Struggle Against Censorship	Cherian George and Sonny Liew	2021	Non-fiction	Banned in 2021 for offensive content against Muslims.[234]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Frankenstein (1818)	Mary Shelley	1818	Novel	Banned in apartheid South Africa in 1955 for containing "obscene" or "indecent" material.[159]
"The Lottery" (1948)	Shirley Jackson	1948	Short story	Banned in South Africa during Apartheid.[235]
Lolita (1955)	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	Novel	Banned for being "obscene".[4]
A World of Strangers	Nadine Gordimer	1958	Novel	Banned in South Africa because of its criticism of Apartheid.[236]
Why We Can't Wait	Martin Luther King Jr.	1964	Non-fiction	Banned in South Africa because of its criticism of white supremacy.[237]
The First Book of Africa	Langston Hughes	1964	Non-fiction; Children's book	Banned in South Africa for its celebration of Black African culture.[237]
The Autobiography of Malcolm X	Malcolm X with Alex Haley	1965	Non-fiction	Banned in South Africa because of its criticism of white supremacy.[237]
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation	Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton	1967	Non-fiction	Banned in South Africa because of its criticism of white supremacy.[237]
Soul on Ice	Eldridge Cleaver	1968	Non-fiction	Banned in South Africa because of its criticism of white supremacy, and its sexual content.[237]
The Satanic Bible (1969)	Anton LaVey	1969	Religious text	Banned during apartheid in South Africa from 1973 to 1993 for moral reasons.[238]
The Struggle Is My Life	Nelson Mandela	1978	Non-fiction	Banned in Apartheid South Africa until 1990.[239]
Burger's Daughter	Nadine Gordimer	1979	Novel	Banned in South Africa in July 1979 for going against the government's racial policies; the ban was reversed in October of the same year.[162]
July's People (1981)	Nadine Gordimer	1981	Novel	Banned during the Apartheid-era in South Africa.[240] July's People is now included in the South African school curriculum.[241]

Title	Author(s)	Year published (South Korea)	Type	Notes
Year 501: The Conquest Continues	Noam Chomsky	2000	Politics	Banned from distribution within the South Korean military as part of 23 books banned on August 1, 2008 by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense in response to intelligence suggesting a book-distribution campaign to active-duty soldiers by the pro-North Korean Hanchongnyon.[242] The books were classified into three categories: 11 for praise of North Korea, 10 for anti-government/anti-American content, and 2 for anti-capitalism.[243][244]
What Uncle Sam Really Wants	Noam Chomsky	2007	Politics
Guerillas of the Kingdom of Samsung	Pressian	2008	Politics
Auf Der Universität	Theodor Storm	1999	Politics
The Global Trap	Hans-Peter Martin and Harald Schumann	2003	Politics
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism	Ha-Joon Chang	2007	Non-fiction
One Spoon on This Earth	Hyun Ki-young	1999	Novel
Slots	Shin Gyeong-jin	2007	Novel	Banned as part of 19 books added in August 2011 to the 2008 banned book list, all belonging to the 'anti-capitalism' category.[245]
Respect, Everything A Guy Needs to Know about Sex, Love and Consent	Inti Chavez Perez	2020	Non-fiction	Banned from distribution to readers below the age of 19 through schools, libraries and book stores in 2024 by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The book was reported to authorities as part of a campaign against books on sex education.[246]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Works	Johannes Kepler	1596–1634	Non-fiction	Banned by Habsburg Monarchy of Spain for perceived heresy.[247]
Works	Voltaire	1727–1778	Novels, Plays, Non-fiction	Voltaire's entire body of work was banned by the Bourbon Monarchy of Spain, after it was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition.[248]
Works	Vicente Blasco Ibáñez	1892–1928	Novels, Non-fiction	All of Blasco Ibáñez's books were banned by the Franco government in 1939.[249]
A Short History of the World	H. G. Wells	1922	Non-fiction	An expanded, Spanish-language translation of A Short History of the World, discussing recent world events, was banned by Spanish censors in 1940. This edition of A Short History was not published in Spain until 1963. In two 1948 reports, Spanish censors gave a list of objections to the books's publication. These were that the book "shows socialist inclinations, attacks the Catholic Church, gives a twisted interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and the Spanish National Movement, and contains 'tortuous concepts'."[250]
Ulysses	James Joyce	1922	Novel	The complete 1945 Spanish-language translation of Ulysses was suppressed by the Spanish authorities until 1962.[251]
The Story of Ferdinand	Munro Leaf	1936	Children's fiction	Banned in Francoist Spain.[130]
Homage to Catalonia	George Orwell	1938	Non-fiction	Banned in Francoist Spain for its support of the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War.[252]
For Whom The Bell Tolls	Ernest Hemingway	1940	Novel	Suppressed by the Spanish authorities until 1968.[253]
Works	Federico García Lorca	1939	Poetry, drama	Banned until 1954; published in Argentina.[254]
You Can't Be Too Careful	H. G. Wells	1941	Novel	Banned in Francoist Spain for criticizing Christianity, and for mentioning the Bombing of Guernica by the Axis air forces.[255]
The Spanish Labyrinth	Gerald Brenan	1943	Non-fiction	Banned in Francoist Spain because of its strong criticism of the Nationalist Faction's actions during the Spanish Civil War.[256]
The Second Sex	Simone de Beauvoir	1949	Non-fiction	Banned in Francoist Spain for its advocacy of feminism.[257]
The Hive	Camilo José Cela	1950	Fiction	Banned by censors of Francoist Spain.[258]
The Spanish Civil War	Hugh Thomas	1961	Non-fiction	Banned by censors of Francoist Spain for its negative depiction of the Nationalist Faction during the Civil War, and its critique of the Franco regime.[259]
The Death of Lorca	Ian Gibson	1971	Biography	Banned briefly in Spain.[260]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Various works	Shen Congwen	1902–1988	Novels	"Denounced by the Communists and Nationalists alike, Mr. Shen saw his writings banned in Taiwan, while mainland China publishing houses burned his books and destroyed printing plates for his novels."[261]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Devil's Discus	Rayne Kruger	1964	Non-fiction	Banned in Thailand in 2006 for violating the country's lese-majesté rules through its discussion of the murder of Thailand's king in 1946.[262][further explanation needed]
The Satanic Verses (1988)	Salman Rushdie	1988	Novel	Banned for blasphemy against Islam.[32]
The King Never Smiles (2006)	Paul M. Handley	2006	Biography	Banned in Thailand for its criticism of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.[263]
Rama X: The Thai Monarchy under King Vajiralongkorn (2006)	Pavin Chachavalpongpun	2024	Biography	Banned in Thailand for its criticism of King Vajiralongkorn.[264]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Animal Farm	George Orwell	1945	Political novella	In 2002, the novel was banned in the schools of the United Arab Emirates, because it contained text or images that would go against Islamic values, most notably an anthropomorphic, talking pig as the leader of the farm. However, the ban is no longer enforced and has been recently lifted.[162]
Goat Days	Benyamin & Joseph Koyippally	2008	Novel

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Year Banned	Year Unbanned	Type	Notes
Areopagitica	John Milton	1644	1644	1695	Essay	Banned in the Kingdom of England for political reasons.[265]
Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure	John Cleland	1748	1749	1970	Novel	Banned in the UK till after the Second World War.[266]
Rights of Man	Thomas Paine	1791	1792	Pre-1990 *Unknown*	Political theory	Banned in the UK and author charged with treason for supporting the French Revolution.[159]
Despised and Rejected	Rose Laure Allatini (under the pseudonym A. T. Fitzroy)	1918	1918	1975[267]	Novel	Banned under the UK's Defence of the Realm Act for criticizing Britain's involvement in World War I, and for sympathetically depicting male homosexuality.[268]
Ulysses (1922)	James Joyce	1922		1936	Novel	Banned in the UK until 1936.[269][270]
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)	D. H. Lawrence	1928		1960	Novel	Banned in the United Kingdom for violation of obscenity laws; the ban was lifted in 1960.[8]
The Well of Loneliness (1928)	Radclyffe Hall	1928	1928	1949	Novel	Banned in the UK in 1928 for its lesbian theme; republished in 1949.[271]
Boy	James Hanley	1931	1934	1992	Novel	Proscuted in 1934 after Hanley's publisher Boriswood lost a court case against a charge of obscenity.[272] Reprinted in 1992 by Penguin Books and André Deutsch.
Lolita	Vladimir Nabokov	1955	1955	1959[273]	Novel	Banned for being "obscene".[4]
Last Exit to Brooklyn	Hubert Selby Jr.	1966 (in the UK)	1967	1968	Anthology of short stories	Banned in Soho for frank depictions of taboo subjects, such as drug use, street violence, homosexuality, gender identity and domestic violence.[274]
Spycatcher	Peter Wright	1985	1985	1988	Autobiography	Banned in the UK 1985–1988 for revealing secrets. Wright was a former MI5 intelligence officer and his book was banned before it was even published in 1987.[275][276]
Lord Horror	David Britton	1990	1991	1992	Novel	Banned in England in 1991 where it was found obscene; it is currently the last book to be banned in the UK. The judge ordered the remaining print run to be destroyed. The ban was lifted in the Appeal Court in July 1992 but the book remains out of print.[277]
The Anarchist Cookbook	William Powell	1971	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Instructional	Criminal due to containing information useful to terrorists.[278][279]
Kill or Get Killed	Rex Applegate	1976	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Instructional	Criminal due to containing information useful to terrorists.[278][279]
Put 'Em Down. Take 'Em Out. Knife Fighting Techniques From Folsom Prison	Don Pentecost	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	*Unknown*	Instructional	Criminal due to containing information useful to terrorists.[278][279]

Title	Author(s)	Year Published	Year Unbanned	Type	Notes
The Decameron	Giovanni Boccaccio	1353	1959	Story collection	Banned from US mail under the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (Comstock Law) of 1873, which banned the sending or receiving of works containing "obscene", "filthy", or "inappropriate" material.[159]
The Canterbury Tales	Geoffrey Chaucer	late 14th century	1959	Story collection	Banned from US mail under the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (Comstock Law) of 1873, which banned the sending or receiving of works containing "obscene", "filthy", or "inappropriate" material. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents.[280][281][159]
The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption (1650)	William Pynchon	1650	*Unknown*	Religious critique	The first book banned in the New World. Pynchon, a prominent leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who, in 1636, founded the City of Springfield, Massachusetts, wrote this explicit critique of Puritanism, published in London in 1650. That year, several copies made their way back to the New World. Pynchon, who resided in Springfield, was unaware that his book suffered the New World's first book burning, on the Boston Common. Accused of heresy by the Massachusetts General Court, Pynchon quietly transferred ownership of the Connecticut River Valley's largest land-holdings to his son, and then suffered indignities as he left the New World for England. It was the first work banned in Boston.[282]
Moll Flanders or The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (1722)	Daniel Defoe	1722	1959	Novel	Banned from US mail under the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (Comstock Law) of 1873, which banned the sending or receiving of works containing "obscene", "filthy", or "inappropriate" material. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents.[280][281][283]
Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure	John Cleland	1748	1959 and 1966	Novel	Banned in the US in 1821 for obscenity, then again in 1963. This was the last book ever banned by the US government. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents.[280][281][128] See also Memoirs v. Massachusetts.
Candide	Voltaire	1759	1959	Novel	Seized by US Customs in 1930 for obscenity. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents.[280][281][159]
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)	Harriet Beecher Stowe	1852	1865	Novel	Banned in the Confederate States during the Civil War because of its anti-slavery content.
Elmer Gantry	Sinclair Lewis	1927	1959	Novel	Banned in Boston, Massachusetts, Kansas City, Missouri, Camden, New Jersey, and other US cities, this novel by Sinclair focused on religiosity and hypocrisy in the United States during the 1920s by depicting a preacher (the Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry) as a protagonist who preferred easy money, alcohol, and "enticing young girls" to saving souls, while converting a traveling tent revival crusade into a profitable and permanent evangelical church and radio empire for his employers. Elmer Gantry also widely denounced from pulpits across the United States at the time of its initial publication. U.S. obscenity laws were overturned in 1959 by the Supreme Court in Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents.[280][281][284][285]
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)	D. H. Lawrence	1928	1959	Novel	Temporarily banned in the United States for violation of obscenity laws; the ban was lifted in 1959.[clarification needed][8]
Tropic of Cancer (1934)	Henry Miller	1934	1964	Novel (fictionalized memoir)	Banned in the US in the 1930s until the early 1960s, seized by US Customs for sexually explicit content and vulgarity. The rest of Miller's work was also banned by the US.[286] Also banned in South Africa until the late 1980s.[287]
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)	John Steinbeck	1939	*Unknown*	Novel	Was temporarily banned in many places in the US. In the state of California in which it was partially set, it was banned for its alleged unflattering portrayal of residents of the area.[288]
Forever Amber (1944)	Kathleen Winsor	1944	*Unknown*	Novel	Banned in fourteen states in the US. Ban was lifted by an appeals court judge.[15][16]
Memoirs of Hecate County (1946)	Edmund Wilson	1946	1959	Novel	Banned in the state of New York by the Supreme Court.[289]
Howl (1955)	Allen Ginsberg	1955	1957	Poem	Copies of the first edition seized by San Francisco Customs for obscenity in March 1957; after trial, obscenity charges were dismissed.[290]
Naked Lunch (1959)	William S. Burroughs	1959	1966	Novel	Banned by Boston courts in 1962 for obscenity, but that decision was reversed in 1966 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[291]
Pedagogy of the Oppressed	Paulo Freire	1968	Never illegal	Educative Theory	Banned in Tucson, Arizona public schools.[292]
United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense (1971)	Robert McNamara and the United States Department of Defense	1971	Injunction lifted in 1971, Declassified in 2011	Government study	Also known as the Pentagon Papers. US President Nixon attempted to suspend publication of classified information. The restraint was lifted by the US Supreme Court in a 6–3 decision.[293] See also New York Times Co. v. United States.
The Federal Mafia	Irwin Schiff	1992	Available for free, but denied for sale as deceptive commercial speech, appeal affirmed in 2004.	Non-fiction	An injunction was issued by a US District Court in Nevada under 26 U.S.C. § 7408 against Irwin Schiff and associates Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen against the sale of this book by those persons as the court found that the information it contains is fraudulent.[294]
Operation Dark Heart (2010) – oop	Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer	2010	In 2013, 198 of 433 redactions of classified material reinstated. In 2015, testimony to Congress was permitted.	Memoir	In September 2010 the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) overrode the Army's January approval for publication. The DoD then purchased and destroyed all 9,500 first edition copies, citing concerns that it contained classified information which could damage national security. The publisher, St. Martin's Press,[295] in conjunction with the DoD created a second, redacted edition; which contains blacked out words, lines, paragraphs, and portions of the index.[296]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Works	Hamid Ismailov	–	Novels, poems, journalist writing	Author in exile since 1994 and all his works are banned for being critical of the government.[297][298][299]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
Animal Farm	George Orwell	1945	Political commentary	Vietnamese translations are banned[300][301] on the grounds of "promoting false socialism ideology" [302]
1984	George Orwell	1949	Political novella	The book was unable to get certification for publication thus making it banned in Vietnam [303]
"Mourning Headband for Hue: An Account of the Battle for Hue, Vietnam 1968"	Nha Ca	1969	Nonfiction	The book was banned for its criticism of the actions of the national liberation front and for acknowledging the 1968 massacre of 6000 civilians in Huế
Paradise of the Blind	Dương Thu Hương	1988	Novel, Literary fiction	Banned in Vietnam for criticism on the political party in control.[304]
No Man's Land	Dương Thu Hương	2005	Novel, Literary fiction	Banned in Vietnam for criticism of the Vietnamese Communist Party.[305][306][307]
Politics for Everyone (Chính Trị Bình Dân)	Phạm Đoan Trang	2017	Non-fiction	Banned in Vietnam on the grounds of political sensitivity.[308][309][310]
Road To Serfdom	Friedrich Hayek	1944	Political Philosophy	Banned due to criticism of the socialist state, especially the planned economy which would inevitably lead to totalitarianism.[311][312]
A Tale for 2000 (Chuyện Kể Năm 2000)	Bùi Ngọc Tuấn	2000	Political Commentary	The author talked about his experience being imprisoned in a "Vietnamese Gulag" for "Anti-revolutionary propaganda"[313] The book was banned with all copies ordered to be destroyed following the Decision No. 395 Regulation of the then Ministry of Culture and Information for violating Clauses 1 and 2 of the Article 33, Publishing Law. Which prohibits works criticising the Vietnamese Communist Party and propaganda going against the interests of the state.[314][315][316]
The Winning Side (Bên Thắng Cuộc)	Huy Đức	2012	Non-ficton	Due to publications within Vietnam had refused to publish, the author decided to print himself and released it on Amazon. Although it has not been officially banned, the Vietnamese Government had seized and question those who had them.[317][318][319][320] This book was considered to be significant as it has provided insights that scholars had never seen before, while it had received a lot of criticism from Vietnamese state media.[321][322]
A Dusty Wind (Một Cơn Gió Bụi)	Trần Trọng Kim	2017	Biography, political commentary	Banned in Vietnam for being "inappropriate, not objective, and containing unverified information" thus violating the Vietnamese Publishing Law, which tends to happen to the biographies of historical characters deemed to be "controversial"[Note 1] by the government.[323][324][325]

Title	Author(s)	Year published	Type	Notes
The Nickel-Plated-Feet Gang During the Occupation (Les Pieds nickelés dans le maquis)	Successors of Louis Forton	1879–1934	Comic book	Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1945.[326]
About a Silence in Literature	Živorad Stojković		Essay	Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1951.[326][citation needed]
The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System (1957)	Milovan Đilas	1957		Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1957; author sentenced for enemy propaganda to seven years in prison, prolonged to 13 years in 1962.[327]
Curved River	Živojin Pavlović	1963	Story collection	In 1963 in Yugoslavia withdrawn by the publisher (Nolit) at request of SDB officials.[327]
Dictionary of Modern Serbo-Croatian Language	Miloš Moskovljević		Dictionary	Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1966, at request of Mirko Tepavac, because "some definitions can cause disturbance among citizens".[327]
A Message to Man and Humanity	Aleksandar Cvetković			Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1967 for "false and wicked claims, and enemy propaganda that supports pro-Chinese politics".[327]
On Fierce Wound – Fierce Herb	Ratko Zakić			Withdrawn from sales and destroyed after the decision of the Municipal Committee of the League of Communists of Kraljevo in Kraljevo, Yugoslavia in 1967.[327]
Thoughts of a Corpse	Prvoslav Vujčić		Poems	Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1983; republished in 2004.[326]
Storytellers II	Boško Novaković		Short stories	Withdrawn from print in Yugoslavia in 1964 because it contained stories by Dragiša Vasić.[327]
Castration of the Wind	Prvoslav Vujčić		Poems	Written in Tuzla prison in 1984. Banned in Yugoslavia by court order in 1984; republished in 2005.[326]

• Censorship by country
• Criticism of Amazon
• Areopagitica: A speech of Mr John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed printing to the Parliament of England
• Banned Books Museum
• Book burning
• Burning of books and burying of scholars
• Internet censorship
• Challenge (literature)
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange
• Index Librorum Prohibitorum
• List of authors and works on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
• List of banned films
• List of banned video games
• List of book burning incidents
• Television censorship