Book banning part 1 of ?
The VOT discussion tonight veered toward early 20th century historical writers Kenneth Roberts and Hervey Allen. I have read books by both of these authors and enjoyed them greatly although they are rather dense books if you know what I mean.
One of the folks on the VOT call thought that these authors’ books have been banned because they are apparently not available at the local public library. I am skeptical that they have been banned. I think it’s more likely that they may have been weeded out because people are not checking them out. I don’t really know.
From what little I know about public librarians, if they are working in a library that does not currently store a book, they are pretty dern good at finding it from some other source. Public librarians serve to bring literature to ALL OF US, no matter what our political or cultural opinions might be.
The books I’m talking about portray early settlers’ views of the northeastern area of what we now call the USA and Canada. They do not portray a Native American’s view of the same era although many Native American folks are an integral part of these stories and were friends (or not) with the settlers.
A beloved young relative of mine was once looking for Native American stories told from their own viewpoint. I pointed him to Hervey Allen and Kenneth Roberts with the caveat that these were white men writing about their experiences. Most Native Americans were not able to write their stories in English in those days. That is a problem but it isn’t one I can solve…
My family is fortunate enough to still own a number of my grandfather’s OLD hardcover books by these and other authors. They reside in the moomincabin and we will not be getting rid of them.
September 14th, 2024 at 9:55 am
Well, that was fun. And educational too. A deep dive into Kenneth Roberts revealed that his books are still available, electronically at least, in my public library. But more interesting to me was his effect on the very restrictive immigration policies of this country in the 1920s. His views could be right out of Trump’s playbook — very timely. I wonder if that’s why his name came up for discussion. (Not sure what VOT means but maybe it was the Friday night dinners you have occasionally.) Roberts was firmly against immigration into this country, especially southern European, Asian, and Jewish immigration. His writings for the Saturday Evening Post (which my anti-FDR, conservative grandparents read religiously) were instrumental in the passage of the restrictive 1924 immigration laws.
September 14th, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Native American writers that I’ve enjoyed are Tommy Orange and Sherman Alexie.