"Books about sex, science, and politics were among the works selected for "Banned in Boston (and Beyond)," a Houghton Library pop-up exhibition that coincided with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week. "I think you'll find very few librarians for whom the freedom to read and the freedom of access to information isn't a very important topic, and that's a reason I really wanted to do something about this subject," said John Overholt, who organized the exhibition. "Because it means a lot to me.""
"Sex and substances were well represented in the exhibition, which included a copy of D.H. Lawrence's 1928 novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Also among the more than titles were William Powell's "The Anarchist Cookbook" (1971), a counterculture text filled with recipes for weapons and drugs, and Madonna's 1992 coffee table book "Sex," which hardly met a obscenity watchdog it did not provoke."
A university library pop-up exhibition presented a range of previously banned books that reflected themes of sex, science, and politics. The show coincided with Banned Books Week and drew on the library's extensive collections to highlight censorship across eras. Featured items ranged from D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover and William Powell's The Anarchist Cookbook to Madonna's coffee table book Sex. A 1543 copy of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium underscored historical bans on scientific ideas that challenged geocentrism. The selection demonstrated shifting censorial focuses over time and emphasized the value of freedom of access to information.
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