fire & fury (2018) by michael wolff
wolff’s gossip tale depicts a dysfunctional presidency perpetually in chaos: at one point, it focuses on the day fbi director james comey was fired. (comey found out on tv). Not all of Wolff’s claims are accepted as true, of course. Trump said he did not authorize access to Wolff’s White House and did not speak to him for the first book. Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, sent a cease and desist letter threatening a libel lawsuit in an effort to stop publication. fire and amp; fury sold out on its first day of release as a result. By 2021, Trump was talking to Wolff about Landslide, the third book in Wolff’s trilogy.
You are reading: Books banned by the us government
the spy hunter (1987) by peter wright
Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government ran a two-year campaign to stop Spycatcher from being published in England, securing it a top spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Peter Wright’s book includes speculation that an MI5 chief was a Soviet mole and discusses how the National Intelligence Service conspired to overthrow Harold Wilson’s government. Britain’s cabinet office continued to block access to 32 files on the spycatcher affair in 2021, calling a freedom of information law request “irritating”.
operation dark heart (2010) by us lt. column. anthony shaffer
The US Army Reserve suggested modest changes to Shaffer’s memoir of his time in an intelligence posting in Afghanistan, and 200 review copies were sent to critics. Then the US Department of Defense stepped in, paying $47,000 to buy and destroy the first printing of 9,500 copies. journalists scrambled to get a copy of the following redacted print run to see what was blacked out (mainly the author’s cover name and mentions of the national security agency). Interestingly, the censors also didn’t like the abbreviation sigint for signals intelligence. extreme research ensured that the book was a success.
harriet the spy (1964) by louise fitzhugh
It’s not just governments that want to control what you read. Harriet the Spy, about a bossy 11-year-old who spies on neighbors and other targets, was challenged at American school board meetings in the 1960s, NPR reports. Some feared that Harriet would encourage children to disrespect their parents. however, the kids loved harriett and the fuss. A generation of rebellious children formed Harriet the Spy Clubs, dressing up as Harriet and spying on their parents.
james and the giant peach (1961), roald dahl
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James is an English orphan who enters a magical peach and has adventures. while that may sound warm and confusing, school censors didn’t like the sometimes macabre content. They also didn’t like that the perpetrator was a former fighter pilot recruited by a British intelligence service to spy on the United States. many public schools banned the book, creating even greater interest.
greek memories (1932) by compton mackenzie
In 1916, Compton Mackenzie was an MI1(C) (later to become MI6) officer in Athens, leading spies and informers. His memoir recounts the somewhat scattershot approach taken by London headquarters and reveals the identity of MI6 chief Sir Mansfield Cumming, known as ‘C’. the Scottish national was prosecuted for incorporating classified information into Greek memoirs, but was not jailed. a redacted version was published, but the original was not available until 2011, decades after his death.
the great gap (2001) by richard tomlinson
tomlinson was jailed in 1997 after giving a book synopsis to an australian publisher, but not even jail could stop the former mi6 officer. he published the great gap in moscow and blogged about his experiences. His book alleged that the MI6 had a license to kill – later confirmed by the MI6 chief – and detailed his training, work in Bosnia, and disciplinary procedures. MI6 finally decided that Tomlinson could return to the UK and unfroze the royalties from the book on him, the Sunday Times reported. Tomlinson chose to work as a pilot in France.
animal farm (1945) by george orwell
The animal farm was targeted by censors and spies. the satire revolves around farm animals rebelling in hopes of creating an equal society. Instead, they end up living under Napoleon, a dictatorial pig. the ussr saw it as a criticism of his politics and banned the book. The United Arab Emirates briefly banned animal farms because of their talking pigs, which is seen as contrary to Islamic values. Meanwhile, the CIA turned it into a propaganda tool and financed an animated film of the same name, although the spies changed the ending of the book.
soft target (1989) by zuhair kashmeri and brian mcandrew
soft target is written by two journalists who investigated the bombing of air india flight 182 and claimed that the royal canadian mounted police and canadian security intelligence were manipulated by indian intelligence agencies. The book was met with skepticism by some in Canada, but remains in circulation. India, on the other hand, has banned soft white for over 30 years, securing its reprint in 2005.
how to read donald duck (1971) by ariel dorfman and armand mattelart
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how to read donald duck is a critique of disney characters from a marxist point of view. the comics are seen as capitalist propaganda promoting American corporate and cultural imperialism. Initially, the book flourished under the government of Salvador Allende in Chile. identified with revolutionary politics. In 1973, when General Augusto Pinochet took office in a coup in Chile supported by the United States and the CIA, the book was burned and its writers forced into exile. the publicity helped sell 700,000 copies worldwide.
the spy who loved me (1962) by ian fleming
Australia initially banned Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved Me (1957), the ninth novel in the Bond series, due to its “intensification of sexual writing”. fleming wrote to michael howard of jonathan cape publishers to explain: “i was increasingly surprised to find my suspense novels, which were designed for an adult audience, being read in schools, and that young people were turning james bond into a hero. So it crossed my mind to write a cautionary tale about the bond, to set the record straight in the minds of younger readers, in particular. The experiment obviously went terribly wrong.” however, the ban certainly didn’t hurt sales worldwide.
the impregnable straits (1916)of sydney loch
Warful of strict Australian censors, Sydney Loch published his “fictitious autobiography” about his time in the First Australian Imperial Force in the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I. the first 2,000 copies sold quickly. A second edition was printed with a note that read: “This book, written in Australia, Egypt and Gallipoli, is true.” the censor ordered all copies of the second edition to be shredded. In 2007, the book was found in the National Archives and republished as To Hell and Back. The work is now seen as having an important insight into Australian history.
the negative asset jock kane
We will never know what the negative asset reveals. Margaret Thatcher’s government obtained an injunction to ban the telltale book in the 1980s. Kane spent more than 25 years with GCHQ, Britain’s signals intelligence collection spy agency, but left GCHQ to work as a driver. of school bus. his second book, The Hidden Depths of Betrayal, is also banned. kane was never arrested or charged.
the irish war (1998) by tony geraghty
Geraghty’s hardcover book was already published when he was charged with breaching UK Official Secrets Law. Then the Ministry of Defense tried to stop the paperback publication of his book, which details the military/political tactics and technology used during the Northern Ireland Troubles. Geraghty’s lawyer argued that there was nothing about the War in Ireland that the Provisional Ira did not know about or had not resolved 20 years earlier. the charges were dropped. the paperback was published in 2000, an immediate sensation.
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