2005 Banned books

This project is no longer being updated by OCLC Research. Please visit the American Library Association's Banned Books Advocacy pages for more current and up-to-date information.

This is an updated list of the titles that both made it to the OCLC Top 1000 list and have been banned according to the 4 volumes in the Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature series:

Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds by Nicholas J. Karolides. New York: Facts on File, 1998. ISBN 0-8160-3304-8

Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds, by Margaret Bald. New York: Facts on File, 1998. ISBN 0-8160-3306-4

Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds, by Dawn B. Sova. New York: Facts on File, 1998. ISBN 0-8160-3305-6

Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds, by Dawn B. Sova. New York: Facts on File, 1998. ISBN 0-8160-3303-X

A decision to purchase an item is almost never made in isolation. Libraries have written collection-development policies, which are based on the mission and goals of the library, the needs of the community it serves, and the level of resources the library has to work with. Libraries also rely heavily on book reviews and other literary criticism resources.

#1	Bible [ various] Library holdings: 796,882 Bibliographic records: 93,567 Rank on complete list: 1
#2	Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain Library holdings: 42,724 Bibliographic records: 1,132 Rank on complete list: 7
#3	Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Library holdings: 38,485 Bibliographic records: 2,334 Rank on complete list: 11
#4	Koran Library holdings: 37,080 Bibliographic records: 2,692 Rank on complete list: 13
#5	Tom Sawyer Mark Twain Library holdings: 32,233 Bibliographic records: 1,100 Rank on complete list: 16
#6	Arabian Nights Library holdings: 31,728 Bibliographic records: 2,414 Rank on complete list: 18
#7	Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift Library holdings: 29,066 Bibliographic records: 1,206 Rank on complete list: 20
#8	Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer Library holdings: 27,863 Bibliographic records: 690 Rank on complete list: 25
#9	Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Library holdings: 26,322 Bibliographic records: 758 Rank on complete list: 31
#10	Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman Library holdings: 21,749 Bibliographic records: 634 Rank on complete list: 49
#11	Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe Library holdings: 20,007 Bibliographic records: 960 Rank on complete list: 59
#12	Prince Niccolò Machiavelli Library holdings: 19,758 Bibliographic records: 709 Rank on complete list: 60
#13	Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank Library holdings: 19,541 Bibliographic records: 339 Rank on complete list: 63
#14	Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert Library holdings: 19,382 Bibliographic records: 733 Rank on complete list: 64
#15	Oliver Twist Charles Dickens Library holdings: 18,843 Bibliographic records: 980 Rank on complete list: 65
#16	Les Misérables Victor Hugo Library holdings: 18,623 Bibliographic records: 884 Rank on complete list: 70
#17	Dracula Bram Stoker Library holdings: 17,723 Bibliographic records: 415 Rank on complete list: 75
#18	Autobiography Benjamin Franklin Library holdings: 17,505 Bibliographic records: 573 Rank on complete list: 76
#19	Tom Jones Henry Fielding Library holdings: 16,381 Bibliographic records: 489 Rank on complete list: 89
#20	Book of Common Prayer Church of England Library holdings: 16,008 Bibliographic records: 1,510 Rank on complete list: 95
#21	Essays Michel de Montaigne Library holdings: 15,613 Bibliographic records: 550 Rank on complete list: 99
#22	Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck Library holdings: 15,544 Bibliographic records: 317 Rank on complete list: 101
#23	Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy Library holdings: 15,103 Bibliographic records: 395 Rank on complete list: 111
#24	History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon Library holdings: 14,869 Bibliographic records: 551 Rank on complete list: 116
#25	Origin of Species Charles Darwin Library holdings: 14,528 Bibliographic records: 301 Rank on complete list: 124
#26	Ulysses James Joyce Library holdings: 13,877 Bibliographic records: 373 Rank on complete list: 134
#27	Animal Farm George Orwell Library holdings: 13,777 Bibliographic records: 296 Rank on complete list: 137
#28	Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell Library holdings: 13,729 Bibliographic records: 301 Rank on complete list: 139
#29	Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio Library holdings: 13,566 Bibliographic records: 909 Rank on complete list: 143
#30	Candide Voltaire Library holdings: 13,371 Bibliographic records: 493 Rank on complete list: 144
#31	To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee Library holdings: 13,012 Bibliographic records: 151 Rank on complete list: 146
#32	Analects Confucius Library holdings: 12,649 Bibliographic records: 426 Rank on complete list: 152
#33	Dubliners James Joyce Library holdings: 11,925 Bibliographic records: 283 Rank on complete list: 178
#34	Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck Library holdings: 11,879 Bibliographic records: 232 Rank on complete list: 179
#35	Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway Library holdings: 11,682 Bibliographic records: 271 Rank on complete list: 184
#36	Red and the Black Stendhal Library holdings: 11,413 Bibliographic records: 478 Rank on complete list: 191
#37	Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Library holdings: 11,352 Bibliographic records: 458 Rank on complete list: 192
#38	Capital Karl Marx Library holdings: 11,282 Bibliographic records: 509 Rank on complete list: 194
#39	Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire Library holdings: 11,086 Bibliographic records: 628 Rank on complete list: 203
#40	Brave New World Aldous Huxley Library holdings: 11,037 Bibliographic records: 230 Rank on complete list: 205
#41	Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence Library holdings: 10,956 Bibliographic records: 355 Rank on complete list: 207
#42	Jungle Upton Sinclair Library holdings: 10,903 Bibliographic records: 141 Rank on complete list: 209
#43	Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser Library holdings: 10,695 Bibliographic records: 170 Rank on complete list: 214
#44	Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell Library holdings: 10,688 Bibliographic records: 290 Rank on complete list: 215
#45	Lord of the Flies William Golding Library holdings: 10,316 Bibliographic records: 155 Rank on complete list: 238
#46	All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque Library holdings: 10,238 Bibliographic records: 233 Rank on complete list: 242
#47	Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury Library holdings: 10,183 Bibliographic records: 178 Rank on complete list: 247
#48	Communist Manifesto Karl Marx Library holdings: 10,151 Bibliographic records: 513 Rank on complete list: 249
#49	Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway Library holdings: 9,823 Bibliographic records: 201 Rank on complete list: 266
#50	Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy Library holdings: 9,776 Bibliographic records: 193 Rank on complete list: 267
#51	Diary Samuel Pepys Library holdings: 9,729 Bibliographic records: 227 Rank on complete list: 268
#52	Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak Library holdings: 9,453 Bibliographic records: 190 Rank on complete list: 277
#53	Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant Library holdings: 9,244 Bibliographic records: 358 Rank on complete list: 290
#54	Praise of Folly Desiderius Erasmus Library holdings: 9,109 Bibliographic records: 414 Rank on complete list: 300
#55	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey Library holdings: 8,996 Bibliographic records: 99 Rank on complete list: 308
#56	East of Eden John Steinbeck Library holdings: 8,881 Bibliographic records: 143 Rank on complete list: 318
#57	Catch-22 Joseph Heller Library holdings: 8,760 Bibliographic records: 117 Rank on complete list: 325
#58	Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe Library holdings: 8,636 Bibliographic records: 241 Rank on complete list: 336
#59	Color Purple Alice Walker Library holdings: 8,528 Bibliographic records: 67 Rank on complete list: 345
#60	Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger Library holdings: 8,524 Bibliographic records: 159 Rank on complete list: 347
#61	Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X Library holdings: 8,470 Bibliographic records: 39 Rank on complete list: 351
#62	Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke Library holdings: 8,445 Bibliographic records: 348 Rank on complete list: 355
#63	Bluest Eye Toni Morrison Library holdings: 8,413 Bibliographic records: 77 Rank on complete list: 358
#64	Invisible Man Ralph Ellison Library holdings: 8,229 Bibliographic records: 61 Rank on complete list: 369
#65	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Library holdings: 8,130 Bibliographic records: 43 Rank on complete list: 377
#66	Leviathan Thomas Hobbes Library holdings: 8,080 Bibliographic records: 162 Rank on complete list: 381
#67	One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Library holdings: 8,072 Bibliographic records: 125 Rank on complete list: 383
#68	Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson Library holdings: 7,956 Bibliographic records: 74 Rank on complete list: 394
#69	Confessions Jean Jacques Rousseau Library holdings: 7,915 Bibliographic records: 330 Rank on complete list: 401
#70	Gargantua and Pantagruel François Rabelais Library holdings: 7,825 Bibliographic records: 167 Rank on complete list: 414
#71	Women in Love D. H. Lawrence Library holdings: 7,675 Bibliographic records: 143 Rank on complete list: 423
#72	Social Contract Jean Jacques Rousseau Library holdings: 7,670 Bibliographic records: 353 Rank on complete list: 425
#73	American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser Library holdings: 7,637 Bibliographic records: 124 Rank on complete list: 430
#74	Separate Peace John Knowles Library holdings: 7,620 Bibliographic records: 65 Rank on complete list: 431
#75	Bell Jar Sylvia Plath Library holdings: 7,602 Bibliographic records: 62 Rank on complete list: 433
#76	Talmud Library holdings: 7,567 Bibliographic records: 658 Rank on complete list: 436
#77	Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler Library holdings: 7,544 Bibliographic records: 183 Rank on complete list: 440
#78	James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl Library holdings: 7,344 Bibliographic records: 94 Rank on complete list: 462
#79	Red Pony John Steinbeck Library holdings: 7,309 Bibliographic records: 114 Rank on complete list: 472
#80	Popol Vuh Library holdings: 7,236 Bibliographic records: 324 Rank on complete list: 480
#81	Metaphysics Aristotle Library holdings: 7,165 Bibliographic records: 253 Rank on complete list: 490
#82	Satyricon Petronius Library holdings: 7,141 Bibliographic records: 368 Rank on complete list: 496
#83	Affluent Society John Kenneth Galbraith Library holdings: 7,068 Bibliographic records: 42 Rank on complete list: 509
#84	Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder Library holdings: 7,055 Bibliographic records: 97 Rank on complete list: 512
#85	Institutes of the Christian Religion Jean Calvin Library holdings: 7,011 Bibliographic records: 285 Rank on complete list: 523
#86	Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Library holdings: 6,993 Bibliographic records: 180 Rank on complete list: 527
#87	Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut Library holdings: 6,988 Bibliographic records: 89 Rank on complete list: 528
#88	Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel Library holdings: 6,909 Bibliographic records: 50 Rank on complete list: 540
#89	Black Boy Richard Wright Library holdings: 6,794 Bibliographic records: 83 Rank on complete list: 567
#90	Spirit of the Laws Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu Library holdings: 6,778 Bibliographic records: 255 Rank on complete list: 569
#91	Julie of the Wolves Jean Craighead George Library holdings: 6,603 Bibliographic records: 82 Rank on complete list: 599
#92	Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse Library holdings: 6,498 Bibliographic records: 165 Rank on complete list: 627
#93	Power and the Glory Graham Greene Library holdings: 6,479 Bibliographic records: 134 Rank on complete list: 635
#94	Black Like Me John Howard Griffin Library holdings: 6,467 Bibliographic records: 46 Rank on complete list: 636
#95	Sylvester and the Magic Pebble William Steig Library holdings: 6,211 Bibliographic records: 61 Rank on complete list: 689
#96	Sanctuary William Faulkner Library holdings: 6,173 Bibliographic records: 128 Rank on complete list: 701
#97	As I Lay Dying William Faulkner Library holdings: 6,145 Bibliographic records: 94 Rank on complete list: 707
#98	Sorrows of Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Library holdings: 6,130 Bibliographic records: 487 Rank on complete list: 713
#99	Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood Library holdings: 5,992 Bibliographic records: 60 Rank on complete list: 754
#100	Chocolate War Robert Cormier Library holdings: 5,929 Bibliographic records: 51 Rank on complete list: 784
#101	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown Library holdings: 5,847 Bibliographic records: 17 Rank on complete list: 810
#102	Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess Library holdings: 5,838 Bibliographic records: 67 Rank on complete list: 813
#103	General Introduction to Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud Library holdings: 5,813 Bibliographic records: 144 Rank on complete list: 820
#104	Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Ernest J. Gaines Library holdings: 5,688 Bibliographic records: 38 Rank on complete list: 851
#105	Émile Jean Jacques Rousseau Library holdings: 5,615 Bibliographic records: 231 Rank on complete list: 872
#106	Nana Émile Zola Library holdings: 5,605 Bibliographic records: 294 Rank on complete list: 880
#107	Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin Library holdings: 5,582 Bibliographic records: 55 Rank on complete list: 886
#108	Gulag Archipelago Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Library holdings: 5,548 Bibliographic records: 80 Rank on complete list: 896
#109	Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein Library holdings: 5,466 Bibliographic records: 44 Rank on complete list: 929
#110	Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes Library holdings: 5,396 Bibliographic records: 49 Rank on complete list: 955
#111	Day No Pigs Would Die Robert Peck Library holdings: 5,332 Bibliographic records: 49 Rank on complete list: 983
#112	Ox-Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark Library holdings: 5,321 Bibliographic records: 47 Rank on complete list: 988