--- title: BANNED BOOKS and CENSORED BOOKS PREPARATION description: A curated list of banned and essential books to protect freedom, preserve knowledge, and prepare for rising censorship and authoritarianism. canonical_url: https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/tips-and-curated-reading-lists/banned-books-and-censored-books-preparation language: en-GB date: 2025-12-12T06:38:58Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/tips-and-curated-reading-lists/banned-books-and-censored-books-preparation. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 2296 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/tips-and-curated-reading-lists/banned-books-and-censored-books-preparation. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ![banned book bonfire](https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/images/book_bonfire_marek-studzinski-BJ-7u3DIevE-unsplash.jpg) Banned Books Bonfire Photo by [Marek Studzinski](https://unsplash.com/@jccards?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-book-on-fire-on-a-black-background-BJ-7u3DIevE?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) **CHATGPT ASK: I said about banned books** In this growing climate of authoritarianism and censorship in the United States, what books do you recommend I stock in my personal library as preparation for their not being available? **ChatGPT said: about censored books** That’s a wise and courageous question. In times of rising authoritarianism and censorship, preserving access to ideas, history, and inner freedom becomes an act of moral resistance. A personal library can be a sanctuary and an archive of essential knowledge—especially for future generations who may not have open access to it. Below is a curated list of books across key themes you may want to include. Many are already being challenged or banned in schools and libraries. Others preserve vital knowledge about freedom, critical thinking, and the human spirit. **📚 1. Classic Literature and Political Philosophy – Foundations of Freedom about banned books** These works explore democracy, totalitarianism, human rights, and moral responsibility. - *1984* by George Orwell - *Brave New World* by Aldous Huxley - *The Origins of Totalitarianism* by Hannah Arendt - *On Tyranny* by Timothy Snyder - *The Republic* by Plato - *Democracy in America* by Alexis de Tocqueville - *Civil Disobedience* by Henry David Thoreau - *The Social Contract* by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - *The Constitution of the United States* (annotated edition) **🧠 2. Psychology and Inner Freedom about banned books** These books help preserve the capacity for critical thinking, depth reflection, and personal transformation. - *Man’s Search for Meaning* by Viktor Frankl - *The Undiscovered Self* by Carl Jung - *Women Who Run with the Wolves* by Clarissa Pinkola Estés - *The Drama of the Gifted Child* by Alice Miller - *The Body Keeps the Score* by Bessel van der Kolk - *The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious* by C.G. Jung - *Healing the Soul in the Age of the Brain* by Elio Frattaroli - *The Divided Self* by R.D. Laing **🗣️ 3. Banned and Frequently Challenged Books** These titles are often first to go under censorship regimes and should be preserved. - *Beloved* by Toni Morrison - *The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison - *Their Eyes Were Watching God* by Zora Neale Hurston - *The Handmaid’s Tale* by Margaret Atwood - *The Hate U Give* by Angie Thomas - *The Catcher in the Rye* by J.D. Salinger - *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee - *Fun Home* by Alison Bechdel - *Gender Queer* by Maia Kobabe - *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* by Maya Angelou **✊ 4. Resistance, Civil Rights, and Anti-Fascism about banned books** Books that document struggles for justice and moral courage. - *The Fire Next Time* by James Baldwin - *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* by Paulo Freire - *Letter from Birmingham Jail* by Martin Luther King, Jr. - *How to Be an Antiracist* by Ibram X. Kendi - *This Bridge Called My Back* edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa - *War Against the Weak* by Edwin Black - *Hope in the Dark* by Rebecca Solnit - *Caste* by Isabel Wilkerson **🕊️ 5. Spiritual and Philosophical Resilience about banned books** These works nourish inner strength, compassion, and endurance in hard times. - *The Book of Job* (preferably in multiple translations) - *When Things Fall Apart* by Pema Chödrön - *The Prophet* by Kahlil Gibran - *The Bhagavad Gita* (Stephen Mitchell or Eknath Easwaran translations) - *Tao Te Ching* by Lao Tzu (multiple translations) - *A Testament of Hope* by Martin Luther King, Jr. - *The Dispossessed* by Ursula K. Le Guin (political and spiritual depth fiction) **🧾 6. Historical and Testimonial Archives about banned books** First-person accounts and investigative histories that regimes may wish to erase. - *Night* by Elie Wiesel - *Survival in Auschwitz* by Primo Levi - *A People’s History of the United States* by Howard Zinn - *The Gulag Archipelago* by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - *Ordinary Men* by Christopher Browning - *They Thought They Were Free* by Milton Mayer - *The Warmth of Other Suns* by Isabel Wilkerson **📖 7. Preserve Access: about censored books** Consider collecting **physical copies**, ideally from independent bookstores or direct from publishers. Ebooks can be remotely altered or deleted. You may also want to print and store: - PDFs of important essays or legal documents - Directories of mutual aid networks, banned book lists, and free press contacts - Hard-copy articles from credible independent journalism sources (e.g., *Mother Jones*, *Democracy Now*, *The Intercept*, etc.) Resources: [American Library Association – Office for Intellectual Freedom ](https://www.ala.org/bbooks) [Banned Books Week](https://bannedbooksweek.org/) [Banned Books about Black History](https://pen.org/banned-books-about-black-history/) [Freedom to Read Foundation](https://www.ftrf.org/) [NCAC – National Coalition Against Censorship](https://ncac.org/) [EveryLibrary's Banned Book Database](https://action.everylibrary.org/everylibrary_s_banned_book_database) Personal Choices for Must Read Novels [Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury](https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/Fahrenheit%20451%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury) [Anthem by Ayn Rand](https://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/1503250709/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SGVGAKI30R2B&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WpWSVvnmGfCg5w0NpI728Dol-NK6W2QVqBARUSyh_nNu3zpHgEoN56mC614tZpseia_4XfY6FSsxwgCXUM5Dx0xSrbSTQAbyJKwRPIoqkgjimgLSgPbaoAOaNCdI2jhC1dgCEcRuHIywx10vN9tYw4Z8TY5G2IUz9EyV3Uq9-BQL8-PDaDR3Wj1QHoUNqyHxqY1zUl1P69sDLzVDmqRs-CEubCFxEpU0GYSR0n9DVe0.KB3Z7xm2d-FNcR65tXscEViFqb2dGn1Gioyb8-7yhic&dib_tag=se&keywords=anthem+ayn+rand&qid=1752878148&s=books&sprefix=antehm%2Cstripbooks%2C208&sr=1-1) **Joanna Poppink, MFT** Licensed Psychotherapist – CA, AZ, FL, OR (virtual only) Specializing in eating disorder recovery, narcissistic abuse recovery, and depth psychotherapy for women in midlife and beyond To arrange a free telephone consultation, e-mail: **This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.** ***Claiming the Lost Self: An Essential Task for Midlife Women* — a seven part series.** You may begin with the series introduction [here](https://eatingdisorderrecovery.net/recovery-healing/claiming-the-lost-self-an-essential-task-for-midlife-women-series-introduction). ```json { "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "author": { "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#joanna_poppink_da79445421" }, "dateModified": "2025-12-12T06:38:58Z", "datePublished": "2025-07-18T22:19:30Z", "description": "A curated list of banned and essential books to protect freedom, preserve knowledge, and prepare for rising censorship and authoritarianism.", "headline": "BANNED BOOKS and CENSORED BOOKS PREPARATION", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/images\/book_bonfire_marek-studzinski-BJ-7u3DIevE-unsplash.jpg", "caption": null, "description": "banned book bonfire", "width": 627, "height": 480 } ], "inLanguage": "en-GB", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/tips-and-curated-reading-lists\/banned-books-and-censored-books-preparation" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#defaultPublisher" }, "url": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/tips-and-curated-reading-lists\/banned-books-and-censored-books-preparation" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joanna Poppink", "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#joanna_poppink_da79445421" }, { "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#defaultPublisher", "@type": "Organization", "url": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/", "logo": { "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#defaultLogo" }, "name": "Eating Disorder Recovery and Woman's Power" }, { "@id": "https:\/\/eatingdisorderrecovery.net\/#defaultLogo", "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "", "width": "", "height": "" } ] } ```