A Missori State university professor of management has fought and won a one-man battle to have certain books banned from the public schools in the city of Republic, Missouri.
It's not uncommon for American school-boards to ban books for ideological reasons. Many of the greatest American novels such as Twain's Huckelberry Finn banned by school-boards, ironically in Misouri - the state where he was born.
... actually I could go on for the whole show listing the numerous great American novels which were banned by small-minded public servants, however today I'd rather talk with Mark Leeds, a personal friend of the satirist Kurt Vonnegut, and the author of the Kurt Vonnegbut encyclopaedia. Last month the Republic school-board voted 4-0 in favour of banning a small selection of books including Vonnegut's most famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five. 42 years after it's original publication, why does this book remain controvercial? It's one of the most banned books of all time.
I will give the final words to Julia Whitehead, the executive director of the Kurt Vonnegut memorial library - she said:
“It’s not clear to me whether any of the adults making these important decisions in our public schools have actually read these books. All of these students will be eligible to vote, and some may be protecting our country through military service in the next year or two. It is shocking and unfortunate that those young adults and citizens would not be considered mature enough to handle the important topics raised by Kurt Vonnegut, a decorated war veteran. Everyone can learn something from his book.”
SF for the PD
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Q. The subtitle of the book is "The Children's Crusade" - it's partly a war story told from the same perspective of Vonnegut himself who was a POW during the Dresden bombings - along with Catch 22, it's one of the most compelling depictions of the horrors of war in American satire - do you think this makes some people all the more eager to ban this particular book?
Q. Slaughterhouse Five is not just a war memoire, the plot is quite unusual in that it jumps forwards and backwards through time, juxatpoxing seemingly random moments in the protagonist's life. It's a complex structure, and yet very simple to read.
- Here I wanted to point out why Vonengut is so suitable for readers of all ages, especially young adults. Can you talk briefly about the inventivness of his writing, his parsimonious use of language.
- My view is that it's because Vonnegut tackles the hard issues, like how we understand war, how we treat our vetrans. But he tells the story disarmingly through a darkly twisted sci-fi story.
Q. This is not the first time vonnegut's books have been banned from the public school system.
- Can you talk about the 1982 SCOTUS case, (Island Trees School District v Pico). I'm not after a legal analysis, we can focus on the literary significance of the book.
Q. In the UK we think of Vonnegut as primarily an author, however he was also the honerary president of the American Humanist Association. Can you talk about Kurt's radical humanist?
- This has to be short... we are looking for some pithy quotes if possible.
Q. Finally, The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library has anounced an offer for the student of Republic, Missouri, a free copy of the banned-book Slaughterhouse five for any student who wishes to find out more about this novel.
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OUTRO: “It’s not clear to me whether any of the adults making these important decisions in our public schools have actually read these books,” said Julia Whitehead, Executive Director of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis. “All of these students will be eligible to vote, and some may be protecting our country through military service in the next year or two. It is shocking and unfortunate that those young adults and citizens would not be considered mature enough to handle the important topics raised by Kurt Vonnegut, a decorated war veteran. Everyone can learn something from his book.”
