# Book banning in UK and Canada?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-banning-in-uk-and-canada/310629>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 1, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-banning-in-uk-and-canada/310629 "2005-07-01T02:34:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-banning-in-uk-and-canada/310629/41 "2005-07-05T12:53:32Z")

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In the UK, _Lord Horror_, published by Savoy Books was banned and the print run destroyed in the late 80s/early 90s. The ban has now been lifted but the publisher has no intention of trying to publish it again… Their Meng & Ecker comics may still be banned, I’m not sure.  
[Savoy Books](http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/lhorror.html)

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**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-banning-in-uk-and-canada/310629/42 "2005-07-05T17:33:23Z")

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The First Amendment makes it extremely difficult (if not practically impossible) to ban a book at the Federal level in the United States. No such restriction exists at lower levels of government. As you move down through the hierarchy from Federal to state to county to municipality to school district, the likelihood of a successful ban increases dramatically.

A ban is much more than a librarian or bookstore manager deciding not to stock a particular book, otherwise, I could be accused of banning books every day simply because I decide not to sell particular titles in my store. There are millions of books out there, and I only have so much space. I can’t sell them all.

A ban requires an actual ruling. For example, a parent went to a school near here with a complaint about a particular book that was required reading for one of the classes. The complaint was formalized and moved up through the hierarchy from the librarian to the library committee to the principal to the superintendant. The superintendant put it on the agenda for the school board, and they voted–with a narrow majority–to remove the book from the library and all classrooms and curricula. _That_ is a book banning. It’s in the formal minutes of the school board meeting.

The book, incidentally, went on to become the Montana OneBook selection, and the ban was dropped. I think it was one of the best pieces of historical fiction I’ve read in the last couple of years. Look for _Fools Crow_ by James Welch at your favorite local bookstore or on [Booksense.com](http://Booksense.com) (or at a big chain if you really must). Note that there is no apostrophe. “Fools” in the title is a verb, not a possessive noun. And don’t confuse this book with one by Thomas Mails with the same title.

Getting back to the point, books can theoretically be banned at a state level in the U.S., but in reality a successful ban is rare even at the county or city level. The Americal Library Association’s list (see [their banned book site](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm)) focuses on the most frequently _challenged_ books, and most challenges never become bans.

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