by Dr. Anne Mulhern

Last September, many libraries in the US celebrated the American Library Association’s “Banned Books Week” (https://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned). The MBLC (Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) and the MLA (Massachusetts Library Association) ran their own Massachusetts-wide events and most local libraries and many bookstores participated.

Less than a month later, a presentation that had been scheduled by the Tewksbury library on sex differences and how they matter in competitive sports was cancelled; the library press release cited staff bullying as the reason (https://insidelowell.com/local-library-cancels-event-cites-staff-bullying/). The presentation was rescheduled a day later (https://insidelowell.com/un-cancelled-a-victory-for-free-speech/). This reinstatement was partly due to the efforts of local Tewksbury residents whose courage in defense of their 1^st Amendment rights I can not praise too highly.

The silence from the ALA, the MBLC, and the MLA, those self-proclaimed champions of intellectual freedom, was deafening, even though the event made the national news. That silence is still unbroken.

In response to this event I launched the “Make Every Week Freedom to Read Week” project. Every week, a book that is not available from any library in MA is posted on the Library Watchers of Greater Lowell Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556735437296). You are encouraged to request that your library purchase the book and to let me know the outcome of your request. After six weeks, if the book has not become available in MA, I request the book from one of the local libraries of which I am a patron.

While the ultimate goal, as I explained in my article (https://insidelowell.com/make-every-week-freedom-to-read-week/) is to enlist the public in efforts to counter censorship in Massachusetts libraries, this effort also helps to identify the books that are actually banned in MA. My list of books has nothing in common with the list of books that the ALA publishes. The books that the ALA considers “most challenged” are ubiquitous in public libraries; you can check this easily. The items on my list of books, could not be found in a single library in all of MA.

Happily, since I began to compile the list, some of the books have been purchased by libraries in MA.

Don’t think that this good news means that you can relax. Censorship in MA libraries persists. Request that your local library purchase any book that it seems to be missing and go public if the library does not make the purchase.

The following shows the results of the “Make Every Week Freedom to Read Week” project so far. For further details on these books and for other library-related news, consult the Library Watchers of Greater Lowell Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556735437296).

The Most Banned Book:

• “Gay Shame” by Gareth Roberts. This book was favorably reviewed in “The Times” (https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/gay-shame-gareth-roberts-review-lrtg8jq76) and has been available for months. I’ve requested it twice and I’ve had no success. This one is still very much banned in MA and the Merrimack Valley, I’m sorry to say. If there’s one book that you decide to request that your library purchase, this should be it.

Un-cancelled Books:

These are the books that were known to be unavailable in MA libraries when they were featured by the “Make Every Week Freedom to Read Week” project, but that are available now. This is the good news.

• “The Great Plant-based Con” by Jayne Buxton. I’m a vegetarian myself, for excellent animal welfare reasons. But that does not mean that I think that any argument for vegetarianism must necessarily be good. Some argument may be really bad or even dangerous; the public can be credulous and the meat-alternative manufacturers have deep pockets. I’m happy to find out more. Purchased at my request and soon to be available in the MVLC (Merrimack Valley Library Consortium) of which Lowell is a member. Hurray!
• “Due Process Denied” by Cynthia Hughes. This is the only book in existence sympathetic to the J6 rioters. I requested this one myself; and am currently reading it. Hurray!
• “Johnny the Walrus” by Matt Walsh. A board book that is quite appropriate for toddlers. This book, published in 2022, became available in MA libraries just a week or so ago. It was not purchased by a library in the MVLC, but according to the Commonwealth Catalog records, it is now headed my way. So it has become available. Progress!
• “The Gender Trap” by Carla Curtis. This book’s availability is still uncertain. It must have been purchased just a week ago and it was not purchased by a library in the MVLC. I requested the book via the Commonwealth Catalog just yesterday, and it’s not clear whether the request is going to be fulfilled or not. But a week or so ago, it was not available anywhere in MA, so this, too, is progress.

Still-cancelled Books:

These are books that have not yet made it into the MA library system. This book was requested by me a while ago, so I would say that its banned-in-MA status is semi-permanent.

• “Counter Wokecraft” by Charles Pincourt and James Lindsay. This is a book about strategies for dealing with what the authors call “wokecraft” in academia and elsewhere. This book is still unavailable in MA libraries, but a similarly themed book, “The Counterweight Handbook” by Helen Pluckrose, who co-authored “Cynical Theories” with James Lindsay has recently become available. I can recommend that book.

Recently Requested Books:

These are books that I’ve requested so recently that it is possible that a library is trying to fulfill the request but not enough time has elapsed yet for the request to be fulfilled.

• “Illusion of Control” by Ian Miller. This book is a reflection of some sort on the global COVID-19 response. The author’s previous book “Unmasked” is available in MA libraries.
• “Life after Lockdown” by Jeffrey A. Tucker. This author started “The Brownstone Institute” which provided a space for Jay Battacharya, recently named as the next director of the NIH (National Institute of Health), to publish his articles questioning the efficacy of lockdowns while he was being censored on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. None of the author’s previous books are available in MA libraries.
• “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing” by Julie Behling. This book draws parallels between the Communist takeover in the USSR and current cultural trends in the United States. There is an accompanying movie or vice-versa, but the movie is not available in MA libraries either.