An Author Self-Censors

We here at AS IF! have been debating an interesting case of self-censorship: An author wrote a book for adults that was being used in high schools, and it was repeatedly challenged and banned. So when the rights reverted to him, he took out the "offensive" parts and published a "new" edition.

Censorship? Well, yes, but clearly this case is more complicated than that, because it's the author making the choice.

Here at AS IF!, we strongly believe in an author's right to control his or her own work. But we can't help but think that responding to individual criticisms like this is a fool's game, because the folks who want to ban and censor books will just find other criticisms...which is exactly what happened in this case.

Still, it's a fascinating story.