Banned Books Bonfire Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
CHATGPT ASK: I said about banned books
In this growing climate of authoritarianism and censorship in the United States, what books do you recommend I stock in my personal library as preparation for their not being available?
ChatGPT said: about censored books
That’s a wise and courageous question. In times of rising authoritarianism and censorship, preserving access to ideas, history, and inner freedom becomes an act of moral resistance. A personal library can be a sanctuary and an archive of essential knowledge—especially for future generations who may not have open access to it.
Below is a curated list of books across key themes you may want to include. Many are already being challenged or banned in schools and libraries. Others preserve vital knowledge about freedom, critical thinking, and the human spirit.
📚 1. Classic Literature and Political Philosophy – Foundations of Freedom about banned books
These works explore democracy, totalitarianism, human rights, and moral responsibility.
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
- On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
- The Republic by Plato
- Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
- Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
- The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- The Constitution of the United States (annotated edition)
🧠 2. Psychology and Inner Freedom about banned books
These books help preserve the capacity for critical thinking, depth reflection, and personal transformation.
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung
- Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
- The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by C.G. Jung
- Healing the Soul in the Age of the Brain by Elio Frattaroli
- The Divided Self by R.D. Laing
🗣️ 3. Banned and Frequently Challenged Books
These titles are often first to go under censorship regimes and should be preserved.
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
✊ 4. Resistance, Civil Rights, and Anti-Fascism about banned books
Books that document struggles for justice and moral courage.
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
- Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
- War Against the Weak by Edwin Black
- Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
🕊️ 5. Spiritual and Philosophical Resilience about banned books
These works nourish inner strength, compassion, and endurance in hard times.
- The Book of Job (preferably in multiple translations)
- When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- The Bhagavad Gita (Stephen Mitchell or Eknath Easwaran translations)
- Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (multiple translations)
- A Testament of Hope by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (political and spiritual depth fiction)
🧾 6. Historical and Testimonial Archives about banned books
First-person accounts and investigative histories that regimes may wish to erase.
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning
- They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer
- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
📖 7. Preserve Access: about censored books
Consider collecting physical copies, ideally from independent bookstores or direct from publishers. Ebooks can be remotely altered or deleted.
You may also want to print and store:
- PDFs of important essays or legal documents
- Directories of mutual aid networks, banned book lists, and free press contacts
- Hard-copy articles from credible independent journalism sources (e.g., Mother Jones, Democracy Now, The Intercept, etc.)
Resources:
American Library Association – Office for Intellectual Freedom
Banned Books about Black History
NCAC – National Coalition Against Censorship
EveryLibrary's Banned Book Database
Personal Choices for Must Read Novels
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Joanna Poppink, MFT
Licensed Psychotherapist – CA, AZ, FL, OR (virtual only)
Specializing in eating disorder recovery, narcissistic abuse recovery, and depth psychotherapy for women in midlife and beyond
To arrange a free telephone consultation, e-mail:
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