Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds (Hardcover)

Throughout history, tyrants, totalitarian states, church institutions, and democratic governments alike have banned books that challenged their assumptions or questioned their authority. Even today, attempts by school boards, local governments, and religious fanatics to restrict our freedom to read continue.

The four-volume Banned Books collection focuses on more than 400 works that have been censored for their political, social, religious, or erotic content -- in the United States and around the world -- from biblical times to the present day.

Works have been chosen for their literary or historical significance, including their role in the history of censorship. Most are read in middle- and high-school curricula as well as in university courses; some have been the focus of major national or international campaigns; and all were either written in English or are available in English translations.

Many of the world's major religious texts, including the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, and others have been suppressed, condemned, or proscribed at some time. Works of secular literature touching upon religious belief or reflecting dissenting views have also been suppressed. Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds profiles the censorship of many such essential works of civilization.

Works covered include:
-- The Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon
-- The Age Reason, Thomas Paine
-- The Analects, Confucius
-- The Bible
-- The Book of Common Prayer, Thomas Cranmer
-- Children of the Alley, Naguib Mahfouz
-- Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant
-- Discourse on Method, Rene Descartes
-- Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
-- TheKoran
-- The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis
-- Ninety-five Theses, Martin Luther
-- On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin
-- Popol Vuh
-- The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
-- A Tale of a Tub, Jonathan Swift
-- The Talmud.