Part memoir, part courtroom drama, part primer for fighting assaults on free speech, this book narrates a 5-year-long federal battle which began in 1986 to reinstate several literary classics to the reading list of a public high school in Lake City, Florida. The book recounts how the superintendent, the local school board, and several religious…

Notwithstanding the First Amendment, book banning is a practice rooted in American history. In 1873, Congress passed the Comstock Law in an effort to legislate public morality. Though rarely enforced, the act remains on the books. A survey by the National School Boards Association found that one-third of challenges to school reading materials in…