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Ten Surprisingly Banned Books

Anne Frank

First Posted: 20/01/12 15:14 Updated: 20/01/12 21:00

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Not that we’d ever advocate censorship, but some banned books you look at and think: yeah, I see why that’s ruffled a few feathers.

Salman Rushdie’s religiously provocative Satanic Verses is still being kept out of India – as is its author. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita was kicked out of France for two years in 1956 for a storyline that involved sex with a 12-year-old. And you can see why Walt Whitman’s poetry was considered a bit saucy for its day.

But the books on this list should come as much more of surprise. From beloved children’s classics to bestsellers you can’t go through an airport lounge without tripping over, these surprisingly banned books have all, for a variety of surprising reasons, been outlawed.

Green Eggs and Ham (1960) - Dr. Seuss
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Between 1965 and 1991, reading Dr Seuss's seemingly innocuous children's rhyme-a-thon was not allowed in People's Republic of China - because of its 'portrayal of early Marxism'. The banned was lifted when Seuss died.
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Not that we’d ever advocate censorship, but some banned books you look at and think: yeah, I see why that’s ruffled a few feathers. Salman Rushdie’s religiously provocative Satanic Verses is ...
Not that we’d ever advocate censorship, but some banned books you look at and think: yeah, I see why that’s ruffled a few feathers. Salman Rushdie’s religiously provocative Satanic Verses is ...
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Grub-screw
1 Fans
00:12 on 06/02/2012
I don't remember this myself, but after commenting on this article to my dad he told me that my primary school teacher wouldn't allow Harry Potter books in the school because it promoted witches or something. It's not just foreign places it seems, though this was on a bit of a smaller scale I suppose.
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imperialwizard
0 Fans
23:54 on 05/02/2012
Rightly so as bears are very dangerous marxist killers.
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imperialwizard
0 Fans
23:53 on 05/02/2012
Brave new world,banned as reportedly from ireland....no such place.
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imperialwizard
0 Fans
23:50 on 05/02/2012
Animal farm upsetting the muslims with talking pigs
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Tmus82
45 Fans
12:29 on 06/02/2012
I think animal farm upset the republicans.
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imperialwizard
0 Fans
23:50 on 05/02/2012
Alice was probably on LSD
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imperialwizard
0 Fans
23:48 on 05/02/2012
Dr seuss eating ham & upsetting the muslims....
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Graham Brand
24 Fans
19:24 on 05/02/2012
I had a completely innoculous comment taken off this site because of the "guidlines" (no other explanation). So I take it there is a censor or a panel who decides what is free speech or what is not! Does anyone know who they are and where they are from?? Please tell me they aren't American? I think that in future anyone signing up for AOL should be sent a gag and sticking plaster along with the router and the rest of the kit!
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mk3interstate
13 Fans
22:49 on 05/02/2012
my sentiments as well you just got a fan.
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Graham Brand
24 Fans
09:57 on 06/02/2012
Wow, thanks. That's made my day. If I write any comments I usually only getting stinking replies. U have restored my faith in human nature and if you are a 'fan' then you must have the freedom of the realm and be designated a friend for life. Cheers MK.
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Mister J G Reeder
27 Fans
18:56 on 05/02/2012
''Not that we'd ever advocate censorship''???????????????????????? I thought that the GEheimeSTaatshufPOst invented it!!!!!!!!! Either that or they fully endorse hypocrisy.
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HisScaliness
92 Fans
18:47 on 05/02/2012
I wish I could say I was astonished that Lebanon banned Anne Frank's diary on teh grounds that it was "portraying Jews, Israel or Zionism favourably". since her diary was written before the establishment of Israel, and has nothing to do with promoting Zionism, it can only be because her diary portrays an adolescent Jewish girl "favourably".

Well, that says an awful lot about the legislators in Lebanon. What a bunch of grubby, nasty, bigoted old men.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
506 Fans
19:48 on 05/02/2012
I agree with you. Given that the Holocaust was horrific as it was, no one would object to the Jewish people for wanting to find land to start over again. But the way they went about it & their persistance ever since, continues to cause tension in the region & all over to this day!

Anne Frank is an icon, & her book should be a staple part of anyone growing up.
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Thalia56
28 Fans
02:58 on 06/02/2012
I titally agree- well said.
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Thalia56
28 Fans
02:59 on 06/02/2012
Whoops, I meant 'totally' agree!.
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pollardpol
0 Fans
18:41 on 05/02/2012
I have read Anne Frank's book and I don't know why it should have been banned, it is a true copy of what happened to her during the war.
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ideaville
I have sexdaily, I mean dyslexia, Danm!
275 Fans
18:32 on 05/02/2012
Does anyone else see the humour in Huffington Post starting an article with "Not that we’d ever advocate censorship"?
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chico 69
7 Fans
19:07 on 05/02/2012
ideavill well said 9 times out of 10 my comments are censored 8 out of 10 are rejected cos i dont say what they want to hear ift thats not censorship then im an alien
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biggles1
2 Fans
19:16 on 05/02/2012
What colour is the sky on your planet?, have you lost contact with the mother ship?,
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lawleigh
13 Fans
19:56 on 05/02/2012
iv had harmless comments taken off of huff loads of times, really annoying when u have taken the time to think of something to write, written it and then waited for an hour to find out THEY didnt like it, this one will prob be deleted 2
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ideaville
I have sexdaily, I mean dyslexia, Danm!
275 Fans
20:08 on 05/02/2012
It really annoys when you've spent a lot of time formulating and typing something you think others might like only to see it disappear, to be fair though, recently I seem to get away with more. I have to hold my hand up and admit that during the worst of the battle to get comments through, I did kind of try to get an offensive comment through just for fun :)
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chico 69
7 Fans
21:12 on 05/02/2012
snap
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Flinglebunt
53 Fans
17:22 on 05/02/2012
Clearly the person who put that together had not read animal farm either. It was never a childrens story and yes it was about communism.
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overhyped
1 Fans
18:22 on 05/02/2012
I'm pretty sure they were joking...
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ashootist
28 Fans
17:09 on 05/02/2012
seems like this news site is censord as well, at least communisim isnt dead
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Flinglebunt
53 Fans
17:18 on 05/02/2012
They'll say they support free speech next on Huff.
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wbelgarath
5 Fans
20:55 on 05/02/2012
No alas it isn't.
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