Banned in Boston
An Effective Marketing Strategy
The “Banned Books” posters and social media posts are certainly having a positive effect on book sales. Perceived scarcity increases their value. People are more likely to purchase a particular item if they believe it will soon be unavailable. There is a precedent for this highly effective Marketing Strategy when it comes to book sales. (Honestly mad respect to the advertisers who came up with this newest era.)
Starting just over 100 years ago, the Watch and Ward Society in Boston became an outspoken figurehead for the literary censorship that plagued the U.S. Inspired by the Federal Comstock Act, which prohibited sending “obsene” items, including books, through the mail. If someone was found breaking this law, they could be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison and a $2000 fine. These real Book Bans left thousands of Americans withh a criminal record. (A massive difference from the hyperbolic “book Bans” of today.)
If a novel found itselflabeled Baned in Boston, sales would skyrocket. Increasingly books were marked this way across the country and audiencesI ate it up. Among th republications that faced the most backlash were:
Simon Called Peter
Robert Keable
The story of a priest named Peter, who begins an affair with a nurse during WWI.
Reason for Ban: Criticized for being “scandalous” and “reeking of lust.”
Strange Fruit
Lillian Smith
A romance story about an interracial couple featuring Tracy, a young man from a prominent family who falls in love with the alluring Nonnie, the woman he saved from a racist attack.
First published in the 1920’s, this controversial novel was banned until 1944 for its “inappropriate” language and debauchery.
Three Weeks
Elinor Glyn
An erotic novel about a woman who seduces a younger man in a Swiss hotel for three weeks, and then vanishes.
Banned in Boston for its pornographic elements.
Dark Laughter
Sherwood Anderson
Detailing each perspective in an affair, the book centers on the wife of a factory owner and her entanglement with one of his employees.
Fanny Hill
John Cleland
Part Pretty Woman and part Nymphomaniac, Fanny is prostitute who eventually marries a wealthy man butt rejects monogamy, instead preferring to explore all facets of her philosophy “Sex is for pleasure.”
Heavily censored for its “obscenity.”
Lady Chatterley's Lover
D.H. Lawrence
This romance novel features a woman suffering in a stale marriage who falls in lust with the gamekeeper.
So torrid it was labeled pornographic until 1960.
Forever Amber
Kathleen Winsor
Set in mid-1600s England, the book follows Amber as she manages to survive teen pregnancy, homelessness, and the Great Plague through her extramarital relationship with Charles II.
Hated for it’s sexually explicit scenes.
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser
Clyde who just wants what everyone else wants: Success. But he can’t stay away from women, and when one falls pregnant, his only way to avoid a public sandal is to murder her (Naturally).
Filled with scenes of depravity.
Naked Lunch
William S Burroughs
An honest account of narcotics addiction in New York, which was removed from circulation for its vulgarity.
“Nearly every page contained something obscene.”
Antic Hay
Alduous Huxley
A satirical commentary about the immoral and wasteful lifestyles of the elite in London following WWI.
Faced backlash for its “open discussion of sex.”
Elmer Gantry
Sinclair Lewis
The controversial author Sinclair Lewis outdid himself with his portrayal of a manipulative “Evangelist” who moves up the ranks of the church through hedonistic means.
For writing this, Lewis was threatened with jail time in New Hampshire and lynching in Virginia.
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
A collection of short stories written after the Black Death about it’s impact on a small Italian town.
Outlawed in the U.S. for its “objectionable” nature.
God's Little Acre
Erskine Caldwell
The story of a family consumed by greed, infidelity, and betrayal that culminates in murder.
After it was designated “Banned in Boston” God’s Little Acre sold over 10 million copies.
The World of William Clissold
H.G. Wells
Falling outside H.G. Wells characteristic science fiction genre, this novel is a semi-autobiographical expression of this “liberal” political and social ideas.
Abhorred for it’s rejection of societal norms and vivid descriptions of sex.
Oil!
Upton Sinclair
Unlike the other books Banned in Boston, Sinclair’s work isn’t condemned for steamy sex but for laying bare the government corruption during the Harding administration that led to a booming oil industry in Southern California.
1991: Philosophical Surrealism
"You don't have to Burn Books to Destroy a Culture. Just get People to Stop Reading Them."
Ray Bradbury
The Illiteracy Epidemic
Almost 1 out of 4 Americans can’t read… WTF
Coming Soon April 2025