This course examines the politics of censorship by reading literature that has been banned. Under many different political regimes, texts have been classified as taboo, censored, or destroyed and their authors fined, jailed, tortured, and even killed. As we look at banned books from a range of times and places, some of the questions we will raise include: How has censorship been used as political tool? How has censorship been justified? When, if ever, is censorship justifiable? Who censors? Who is censored? How can censorship be resisted? What do attitudes about censorship indicate about the interplay of race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality in a particular society?