Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week

September 24 - October 2, 2010

Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Operation Dark Heart joins list of banned books

Washington, Sept. 27, 2010:
 
The U.S. Defense Department has paid $47,000 to destroy 9,500 copies of a former Army intelligence officer's war memoir that the Pentagon deems too sensitive.  Though permission had originally been given for publication, it was later rescinded.  The book has been reprinted with the offending sections blacked out. 

The book is a memoir of secret operations carried out by the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan and highlights Washington's lost chance to win the disastrous war. As many as 100 uncensored copies of the book reached the public before military officials put a halt to its distribution. A censored version of the book, with over 250 passages removed, is now available to readers as a list of 'key characters,' abbreviations and locations were removed in the name of “protecting national security”. [1]