# P. Pullman's Amber Spyglass -- is Kindle version censored? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184 "2012-12-26T14:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/1 "2012-12-26T14:10:28Z")
I understand that the American publishers of Philip Pullman’s _The Amber Spyglass_ – the final volume of the _His Dark Materials_ trilogy, which began with _The Golden Compass_/\*Northern Lights[/] – censored some portions of the book before releasing it in the United States. Does anyone know whether the Kindle version sold on Amazon (U.S.) is the expurgated or unexpurgated version? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/2 "2012-12-26T14:44:50Z")
The Kindle version is probably the _edited_ US version. But really, the changes don’t appear to be that drastic. > **[The Amber Spyglass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amber_Spyglass#Changes_to_U.S._edition)** > > The Amber Spyglass is the third novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Published in 2000, it won the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year award, the first children's novel to do so. It was named Children's Book of the Year at the 2001 British Book Awards, and was the first children's book to be longlisted for the Booker Prize. > The novel is set in a number of worlds dominated by the Magisterium, a theocracy which actively suppresses heresy. In some of these worlds, humans' souls... ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/3 "2012-12-27T01:29:59Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I understand that the American publishers of Philip Pullman’s _The Amber Spyglass_ – the final volume of the _His Dark Materials_ trilogy, which began with _The Golden Compass_/\*Northern Lights[/] – censored some portions of the book before releasing it in the United States. Does anyone know whether the Kindle version sold on Amazon (U.S.) is the expurgated or unexpurgated version? What did the print versions censor? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/4 "2012-12-27T01:45:08Z")
See the Wikipedia link above; basically some (minor, in my opinion) passages relating to the sexual maturing of the main character. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/5 "2012-12-27T02:08:30Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The Kindle version is probably the _edited_ US version. But really, the changes don’t appear to be that drastic. > > [The Amber Spyglass - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amber_Spyglass#Changes_to_U.S._edition) I noticed your emphasis on the word “edited.” Do you not accept the use of the word “censored” here? It seems to me a perfect example of private censorship (censorship in this send is a subset of editing) and reflects the same usage as “network censors” as used in reference to television (which officially might have a name such as “standards and practices department”). And even if the changes are minor, I object to bowdlerization, and find it especially insulting when as a member of the American audience. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/6 "2012-12-27T14:18:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I noticed your emphasis on the word “edited.” Do you not accept the use of the word “censored” here? It seems to me a perfect example of private censorship (censorship in this send is a subset of editing) and reflects the same usage as “network censors” as used in reference to television (which officially might have a name such as “standards and practices department”). Yes I do. I’m a librarian and when we talk about book censorship, we mean something very specific (a town or school attempting to remove a book from circulation completely). Decisions a publisher makes before a book is even released are not our concern (except for obtaining a UK version as well as a US version to have a fuller collection). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-pullmans-amber-spyglass-is-kindle-version-censored/645184/7 "2012-12-27T15:37:22Z")
Well, that’s all fine and well for librarians’ professional jargon, but I object to private censorship in the form of bowdlerization of an already published novel by a publisher just as much as I object to government censorship, so I reject the correction.