Episode · Stuff They Don't Want You To Know · 2023-06-23
Books mentioned on Should Any Books Be Banned?
Should any books be banned? In recent years, the US has again wrestled with the concept of banning books -- in other words, controlling access to information.
Ben Bowlin discussed New English Canaan, or New Canaan by Thomas Morton, Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper, Ulysses by James Joyce, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and others, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Global Impact of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Esther Webman, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and others, The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments by Robert Brent, The Anarchist Cookbook by William F. Powell and others, Rage by Stephen King, and Crew Change Guide to the US and Canada. Also mentioned: The Epic of Gilgamesh, The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton with Introductory Matter and Notes by Thomas Morton, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, The adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem that follows the adventures of the historical king of Uruk.
Discussed“we got together and we looked up the first thing considered to be a book ever and generally right now the first thing considered to be a quote-unquote book is the Epic of Gilgamesh which is kind of old”
Where to get it
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The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton with Introductory Matter and Notes
Discussed“His book new English Kaden was banned by the Puritan government of the area in modern day Massachusetts Quincy Massachusetts because they didn't like his take on Puritan customs and power structures”
Where to get it
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New English Canaan, or New Canaan
Discussed“his book new English Kaden was banned by the Puritan government of the area in modern day Massachusetts Quincy Massachusetts because they didn't like his take on Puritan customs and power structures”
Where to get it
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Behold a Pale Horse
Behold a Pale Horse is a 1991 book by Milton William Cooper that compiles various conspiracy theories regarding secret societies, government cover-ups, and extraterrestrials.
Discussed“but then also be able to read things like Beyond a pale horse or uh Behold a Pale Horse whatever that work was”
Where to get it
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Discussed“There's an example uh the absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by an author named Sherman alexie”
Where to get it
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The adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a classic American novel depicting the mischievous exploits of a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River.
Discussed“yeah I'm like same with like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn you know some of the uh debates around that because of its you know problematic language and use of racial slurs”
Where to get it
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic American novel depicting a young boy's journey down the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, confronting society and morality.
Discussed“yeah I'm like same with like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn you know some of the uh debates around that because of its you know problematic language and use of racial slurs”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“but if you said for instance let's pull the Canterbury Tales or let's pull Ulysses from all libraries in our community then you're are you not infringing upon the rights of adults”
Where to get it
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The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of narrative poems in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer that details the tales told by a diverse group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury.
Discussed“but if you said for instance let's pull the Canterbury Tales or let's pull Ulysses from all libraries in our community then you're are you not infringing upon the rights of adults”
Where to get it
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The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Victor E.
Discussed“and one of the things that comes up pretty often is a very successful racist propaganda like mein comp for the protocols of the Elders of Zion and uh in the interest of full disclosure just to be absolutely Fair we have read copies of both of these works”
Where to get it
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The Global Impact of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Discussed“and one of the things that comes up pretty often is a very successful racist propaganda like mein comp for the protocols of the Elders of Zion”
Where to get it
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Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler is a notorious autobiographical manifesto outlining the author's political ideology and anti-Semitic worldview.
Discussed“and one of the things that comes up pretty often is a very successful racist propaganda like mein comp for the protocols of the Elders of Zion and uh in the interest of full disclosure just to be absolutely Fair we have read copies of both of these works”
Where to get it
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The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments
The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments by Robert Brent is a children's science book that provides instructions for conducting various chemical experiments at home.
Discussed“that's why the a simple children's chemistry book called The Golden Book of chemistry experiments was banned in I think it was like 1970 1969 and it's it was a children's book for chemical experiments”
Where to get it
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The Anarchist Cookbook
The Anarchist Cookbook by William F.
Discussed“is it How Does It Better Society having the Anarchist Cookbook around and available just in case we need it or is it better that we just don't have that knowledge”
Where to get it
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Rage
Rage by Stephen King is a controversial psychological thriller originally published under the author's pseudonym Richard Bachman, following a troubled high school student who holds his classroom hostage.
Discussed“we talked about that book uh Stephen King removed from publication of his own accord uh the rage rage yes that's the one”
Where to get it
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Crew Change Guide to the US and Canada
Discussed“an example would be the crew change guide which we've talked about before people who function as you could call them modern day Nomads or hobos or whatever train Hoppers uh folks who ride the rails illegally they have a book and this book is called the crew change guide”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (9) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“we got together and we looked up the first thing considered to be a book ever and generally right now the first thing considered to be a quote-unquote book is the Epic of Gilgamesh which is kind of old”
“and I'm with you there Noel I uh I remember being baffled that I could read Stephen King's It at such a young age with no problems”
“so there's the Comstock law or the federal anti-obscenity act that banned a lot of stuff like the Canterbury Tales or the de Cameron”
“yeah I'm like same with like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn”
“yeah I'm like same with like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn”
“Speaking of Collector's Editions the books stuff they don't want you to know has been banned”
“speaking of Collector's Editions the books stuff they don't want you to know has been banned and you cannot get it anywhere”
“and then we can't read things like iRobot”
“and then we can't read things you know like uh the script for Space Odyssey 2001 or 2001 A Space Odyssey”