THE MOST HARMFUL BOOKS

[hsv]

 Would be interesting to know what books where banned in Soviet countries. I imagine nearly everything ever written is currently banned in North Korea.

My girlfriend's mom who grew up in Soviet Russia talked about reading samizdat versions of The Master and Margarita, and smuggling them behind newspapers and magazines for reading in public... the way she talked about it made it sound like it wasn't an extreme thing, maybe if you got caught you'd get a fine or something?

[Levas]

Would be interesting to know what books where banned in Soviet countries

I think the list would be far too big and it also depends on the time of ussr you would want to check. there were bans on the whole non-Russian alphabet/language books which led to booksmuggling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_book_smugglers
also during regime of Stalin, take any book protecting etc. religion, capitalistic world view, pro-nationalistic views etc, you mention it, book, it will be banned. for the most of the time in ussr. after Gorbatchev came, it was a little easier already. Strict laws started to loosen up after the death of Stalin so overall the list would be far too extensive and varied throughout the time of ussr.

[Jordan]

De Sade? Read most of them quite young and have very little recollections at this point.

In his day, though the books were usually banned and he received little to nothing as payment, they were "best sellers" that regularly went through hundreds of thousands of copies each. I'm sure that the effects those novels had on many men were rather dangerous to the women in their lives.

Also, his political writings had at least some effect on the French revolution (more his speech at the Bastille or whatever, but whatever) although he opposed the more extreme manifestations of those revolutionary times.


The Society of the Spectacle and The Revolution of Everyday Life as the most shoplifted books of the time in France certainly had some dangerous effects on the social peace of the nation for a couple of years.

[tiny_tove]

In Italy  two of the most radical books ever have been probably:

FRANCO GIORGIO FREDA - LA DISINTEGRAZIONE DEL SISTEMA (disintegration of the system)  and his books during the FRONTE NAZIONALE YEARS
The first book dealt with radical ideas of revolution from a fascist perspective, opening also to the radical left. A pamphlet that many see as the manifesto of extreme right terrorism, that suggested to strive for a Maoist state with a traditionalist spiritualist inspiration. Other, more recent books deals with extreme racism and was the backbone of the neo-nazi organisation FRONTE NAZIONALE.

ALFREDO BONANNO - LA GIOIA ARMATA (the armed joy) A radical anarchist book that explicitly talked about armed struggle, bank robbing, etc.

[HONOR_IS_KING!]

Quite surprised that no one has mentioned "By Ways of Deception"

Highly enjoyable read even though its validity is highly debated. Gives you a pretty nice look into the Mossad and their operations. The training required for the participants is absolutely incredible.

Israel attempted to prevent the book from being sold, but to no avail....

[Jordan]

In Italy  two of the most radical books ever have been probably:


ALFREDO BONANNO - LA GIOIA ARMATA (the armed joy) A radical anarchist book that explicitly talked about armed struggle, bank robbing, etc.

His forbearers Bruno Filippi and Renzo Novatore should share some responsibility for getting the Italian individualist/stirnerist/illegalist/insurrectionist ball rolling. Great writers/thinkers.

I guess Max Stirner's The Ego And His Own should be mentioned, as it has largely been the basis for illegalist anarchism, from the Bonnot Gang to Bonanno. Camus disparaged it for advocating murder, hell, it's even been blamed for fascism in Roots of the Right - Readings in Fascist, Racist and Elitist Ideology (1971). Many an anarchist has derived and developed the praxis of the pistol from the theory of this work. Highly recommended, even to those who would shudder at the liberal/left implications that the term "anarchist" now conjures.

[HongKongGoolagong]

An enormously harmful book by any standards is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. How many deaths might it have caused over the last 100 years, in Russia as well as Germany, and how much turmoil is it even now responsible for among fringe groups convinced of its validity despite its first exposure as a malicious fraud coming in 1921. I have it as an appendix in a fairly lunatic conspiracy theory volume 'Behold A Pale Horse' in which the author William Cooper suggests we replace 'Jews' with 'Illuminati'! It's a very effective tool for evoking a paranoiac mindset, an indisputably powerful and sinister text.

And if we are to judge harmful books by the numbers of real-life deaths caused then the all-time winners must be the Bible and the Koran. I don't know the Koran well enough to offer much of a comment on its virtues, but my favourite Old Testament books are Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, most of Psalms and Proverbs. Psalm 88 is a kind of power electronics lyric, wonderfully bleak and nihilistic. The KJV is a great pleasure for any reader with English as a first language, so many of our everyday expressions are taken from it: the influence on the language has affected our way of perceiving the world. Taken as a whole the Bible is surely a dangerous book with very great potential to fuck up lives.

[Andrew McIntosh]

And if we are to judge harmful books by the numbers of real-life deaths caused then the all-time winners must be the Bible and the Koran.

Yes.

The KJV is a great pleasure for any reader with English as a first language...

Yes again, very much so. The book of Job is rightly regarded as the "literary classic" of the Bible (have to admit I forgot where I read that, I'm afraid). Some fantastic verse. "For the arrows of God are arrayed against me, my spirit drinks their poison".

[ARKHE]

Top list of books considered harmful in the US. Of course this has only to do with moralist values and political correctness.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/banned-books-week-10-books-censors-jumping/story?id=17332239
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorship/bannedbooksthatshapedamerica

Since gay penguins, wizard and interracial sex will destroy the fabric of modern society. Appealing especially to the youth of today.

[HongKongGoolagong]

Top list of books considered harmful in the US. Of course this has only to do with moralist values and political correctness.

It's simply an annual PR opportunity by the educational lobby to try to get kids to read, to get them to read anything, and they can't put anything actually dangerous on the list because it's going in the press all round the world, and the inclusion of something like Howl is a hint that some among the listmakers would actually encourage adventurous young minds to explore Burroughs etc.

It does remain true that the more nauseatingly cosy books on the list are the sort of thing that alienate certain rebels more than ever and are a cause of trouble. Crispin Hellion Glover's essay in Apocalypse Culture 2 in which he directly accused Steven Spielberg's influence on mainstream culture for the Columbine shootings was excellent I thought. Incidentally Jordan, I see you removed your memories of how seeing the first AC too young affected you - that was quite a read, I don't think anyone knew how to respond to that. 

[Goat93]

And if we are to judge harmful books by the numbers of real-life deaths caused then the all-time winners must be the Bible and the Koran.

As Death Counts, you could Top it easily with Buddhism Influences in Asia. But i don't think you can Point it on the Books alone, its a whole Religion and the Books are just a Part of it. Christian Slaughters went much before the Bible where written, same with Koran. And the Christians where already slaughtered long before the Bible where written

[Jordan]

Incidentally Jordan, I see you removed your memories of how seeing the first AC too young affected you - that was quite a read, I don't think anyone knew how to respond to that.

Yeah, well, Mikko pointed out that the thread was made to discuss books that are/were dangerous to society at large, not personally or whatever. Also, I was completely in my cups when I wrote that, and kind of figured that I divulged too much.

[ARKHE]

Top list of books considered harmful in the US. Of course this has only to do with moralist values and political correctness.

It's simply an annual PR opportunity by the educational lobby to try to get kids to read, to get them to read anything, and they can't put anything actually dangerous on the list because it's going in the press all round the world, and the inclusion of something like Howl is a hint that some among the listmakers would actually encourage adventurous young minds to explore Burroughs etc.

It does remain true that the more nauseatingly cosy books on the list are the sort of thing that alienate certain rebels more than ever and are a cause of trouble. Crispin Hellion Glover's essay in Apocalypse Culture 2 in which he directly accused Steven Spielberg's influence on mainstream culture for the Columbine shootings was excellent I thought. Incidentally Jordan, I see you removed your memories of how seeing the first AC too young affected you - that was quite a read, I don't think anyone knew how to respond to that. 

Yes, I was meaning to find a list that I saw of what books actually were banned by which school libraries, for year to year, since most of those on the list are hammered in as classics all the bloody time - To kill a mockingbird, Catcher in the rye, etc etc, that kids around the world are forced to read all over the world by enthusiastic English literature teachers. This thread could easily fork out into one on censorship. Think most school libraries (for minors) wouldn't have anything by Ginsberg, let alone something in the vein of American Psycho; probably nothing wilder than On the road. To not distort the tender young minds.

[tiny_tove]

How to not remember Rose Bonbon by Jones-Gorlin Nicolas that created many hassles wherever it has been published. Considered like a Pedo manifesto, it sounds more like a pathetic journey in the mind of a person who cannot control himself at all.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

Interesting thread...
I think the Satanic verses by Rushdie should be included as well, if only for the chaos it created in the world.
I heard rumours years time ago that one copy was walled into one of the first mosques built in Sweden.... if its true or not, I do not know.

the satanic verses was a brilliant work of non-fiction.