I think of America as a country that does not ban books. Of course there is the odd case of some school board somewhere banning books like Huckleberry Finn, or some other totally harmless book, but by and large, America does not ban books -- and even when one stupid school board somewhere does ban certain books, those books are available elsewhere. Ours is a country of free speech, a country where you can print the truth. Lately I’ve begun to wonder if there isn’t another way that America has figured out to ban books.
Three times in my thirty years of teaching I’ve come across wonderful books that I’ve decided to assign to my classes and three times I’ve found out that these books that I thought were wonderful books were out of print. Out of print? Why were they out of print? I thought they were terrific books, informative books. I’ve never come across any other books I’ve thought were terrific and suddenly found out that they were out of print. If I want them, if I find them interesting, it stands to reason that others want them. My taste is not that unusual. Usually, a book is out of print because it is boring—nobody wants to read it.
Example number one just might be a case of a book that I love and that no one else loves -- although I doubt it. The title of the book is The Pedestrian Revolution. Yes, it is a book against cars and for alternative modes of transportation, but it isn’t a very revolutionary book, or an anti-America book. It really isn’t so much against cars as it is for alternatives to cars -- for bicycles, tricycles, motor carts, trains, busses. The Pedestrian Revolution is a beautifully written, beautifully illustrated book. There is no reason it should be out of print. It says much that is worth hearing, reading. It says nothing treasonable or inflammatory. It deserves to be in print, to be part of the large dialogue about means of transportation. Why is out of print?
The second book I loved and wanted to assign to my classes is called Four Arguments For The Elimination of Television. Again, it isn’t a very revolutionary, or Anti-America book. It does not advocate the overthrow of the American Government. It doesn’t even really say we should eliminate television—it merely makes a strong case against television. The book is by a well known critic of television, Gerry Mander, who has written other books about the media, and his other books are in print. Four Arguments is no longer out of print -- but why was there a period when this highly intelligent book was out of print.
It was the third example of this phenomenon that made me suspicious. This year I wanted to assign a wonderful book to my classes: Corporate Crime & Violence -- and sure enough, it was out of print. Why was it out of print? It is a well documented book, a highly informative book full of case histories citing examples of corporations clearly ignoring evidence that their product did harm to consumers. Cars with faulty, leaky, gas tanks, implants that caused cancer. Many of you know the case histories I am referring to—Corvair & Dow Chemical. But the book was full of examples I didn’t know about, and yet this carefully documented, highly informative, recently issued book was suddenly out of print.
Why? Why were these books -- and almost no other books I have desired, out of print? My guess is that pressure was placed on the printers to stop printing these books. Or, in this day & age of mergers & acquisitions, some corporations simply bought out these printing companies and stopped printing the books.
Can any of you listeners think of an explanation for the fact that these three very interesting, very well written books, were suddenly out of print? Some people may not like what they say; some people may not be interested in what they say -- but why are they out of print? I am not that unusual. If I am interested in a book, it must be mildly interesting to others and therefore there must be a market for the book. Why are these books out of print?
Because someone didn’t want the books to be in print. There is no need to ban books if you are powerful enough to stop the book from being printed. Banning books? No, America is a country that allows freedom of the press -- but as A.J Liebling said -- Freedom of the Press is limited to those who own one. If we make sure you don’t own a press we can make sure you never print something we don’t approve of -- and if you do print something we don’t approve of we’ll buy you out & stop the printing -- hence the wonderful words -- Out of Print.
Subtle censorship exists in America. We don’t ban books; we simply make sure that the books we don’t like are “Out of Print.”
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein