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Library Blog

Moral Panic and the Banning of Books  

September 13, 2022 by kmerwin Leave a Comment


by Cathy Butterfield, Collections Manager

The recognition that knowledge is a form of power has shaped libraries around the world and through the ages. 

Our earliest forms of written symbol and history are passed down to us through myriad forms of libraries throughout the ages, from the cave art of Lascaux, to Babylonian clay tablets from the 3rd century B.C., to the website “Archive of Our Own.”  Without the archival passion to preserve, those records would have returned to river mud, or cemented into the walls of fortresses (many were.) 

The emperor Shih Huang-ti of the Ch’in dynasty ordered all historical records other than those of the Ch’in to be destroyed so that history would seem to begin with his rule. Preservation of the earliest records were the province of kings and merchant princes, pharaohs, and conquering generals. 

In 48 BC, a good part of the great Library of Alexandria was sacked and burned—one of the chief suspects was Julius Caesar. One of the first known libraries made accessible to the public, rather than the elite, was launched in Rome soon after Caesar’s death. The historian Pliny understood the significance, praising the founder Asinius Pollio: ingenia hominum rem publicam fecit (“He made men’s talents a public possession.”). That may be the most radical aspect of a public library—it shares the power of information with their entire community, rather than just the powerful.   

That may be the most radical aspect of a public library—it shares the power of information with their entire community, rather than just the powerful.   

The director of the Boundary County Library in Bonner’s Ferry, Kimber Glidden, resigned this last week, citing a “political atmosphere of extremism, militant Christian fundamentalism, intimidation tactics, and threatening behavior currently being employed in the community.” A few short years ago, this same library won the award for Best Small Library in the country. What happened? Boundary County’s own web page has a cogent and concise farewell letter posted on their main page that goes straight to the point. 

“This is about control of what information our community is allowed access to,” wrote Glidden. “What is the weapon a small number of people are using to divide this community? Fear, irrational threats, and moral panic.”

Moral panic is a powerful force, shaped by deception, intimidation, and irrational rhetoric. Those generating moral panic about a community having free access to books have a greater agenda—control of the institution as a whole, and by extension, the community it serves. The forces behind bans and challenges want to be kings and merchant princes, and shape history to suit their needs. As Kimberly Giddens says in her farewell:

“Now more than ever it is imperative that we guarantee the freedom to read, the freedom of expression, the freedom of information, and the right to a fair and balanced education.”

~Kimber Gidden, FORMER Boundary Country Library Director

“Now more than ever it is imperative that we guarantee the freedom to read, the freedom of expression, the freedom of information, and the right to a fair and balanced education. The library will stand to protect the rights of all people. 

“It is time to take a stand against false narratives. Thank you and spread the word.”   

Find a list of 25 Frequently Challenged Books Considered Classic Literature, here.

Filed Under: Fresh from the Stacks

Book Review: Assassin’s Strike

September 7, 2022 by kmerwin Leave a Comment


Kelly Noble, Gold Mine Processing Manager, recommends Assassin’s Strike by Ward Larsen.

I enjoy reading espionage thrillers, especially those that are written well and contain plausible plots. Ward Larsen is among the best writers in the genre. His David Slaton novels are exciting, adventurous, action packed and riveting. When reading thrillers of this type, I always examine the story for its authenticity. Are the countries real? Does the author understand the current geo-political climate of the area? Is the plot even possible? There is nothing worse than a poorly researched thriller. 

In Assassin’s Strike, our hero is David Slaton, a former Israeli Mossad member now working for the CIA. Trained to enter the world’s most dangerous places, Slaton is always at the top of his game. In this novel he is asked to help a Russian linguist escape war-torn Syria. Ludmilla Kravchuk is an interpreter for the Russian president. All seems to go well until a session between the Russia President and the President of Iran. Ludmilla’s counterpart, a young Iranian woman, is killed before her eyes. Ludmilla escapes into the city where she finds help from old friends.  

These espionage thrillers contain a wealth of information about the world in which we live and travel.

As the novel unfolds, Slaton contacts Ludmilla and sets up a plan to help her escape to the West. Of course, no mission goes as planned. In the process of leaving the city of Damacus, Ludmilla brings along a friend and her young son. Instead of one person to save, Slaton has three. At the same time as this adventure is underway, a second plot unfolds in the story. Terrorists have received a chemical weapon and plan to use it to destabilize the Middle East. As soon as Slaton finishes the first part of the mission, he is off to help stop a global war. 

Assassin’s Strike is highly recommended. I find most readers of this genre deeply knowledgeable about current world events. These novels depend heavily on knowledge of geography, politics, and current events. There is so much a reader can learn from fiction. These espionage thrillers contain a wealth of information about the world in which we live and travel. These novels are not science fiction. They represent potentially deadly problems for the world. Like Gerald Seymour once said, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”  For all its worth, Ward Larsen has done an excellent job crafting an exhilarating novel.  

Find it in Adult Fiction here.

Filed Under: Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Banned Book Classics

September 6, 2022 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

25 Frequently Challenged Books Considered Classic Literature

  1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  2. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
  3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  6. Ulysses by James Joyce
  7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  9. 1984 by George Orwell
  10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  12. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  13. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  14. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  16.  A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  17. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  18. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  19. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  20. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  21. Native Son by Richard Wright
  22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
  23. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  24. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  25. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The American Library Association lists more banned classics and the objections each book draws. More information here.  

Download a PDF of this list here.

More information can be had at www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks. The Freedom to Read statement is worth a gander as well, and can be accessed at www.ala.org/intellectualfreedom.

Filed Under: Fresh from the Stacks

Wheels of Time

September 2, 2022 by Kelley Moulton Leave a Comment

By Sabrina Brewer, Regional History Intern

2021.06.30001, Chamber of Commerce Collection, Regional History Museum

The young spectators in this photo from the Chamber of Commerce Collection are just a few of the thousands of people that line Ketchum’s Main Street over Labor Day weekend. They are here for Wagon Days, an annual festival that recognizes the region’s mining history and the infrastructure that made it possible. The finale of the event includes the Big Hitch, a team of twenty mules on a jerkline who pull six Lewis Ore Wagons, the only of their kind in existence. During the mining boom of the 1880s, Lewis Ore Wagons passed between Ketchum and Challis along Trail Creek Summit Road transporting ore and materials.

While the Lewis Ore Wagons are the highlight of the show, Wagon Days also includes lesser-known elements from the valley’s mining past. Pictured in this photo is a water wagon and accompanying commissary. Water wagons were an essential unit during this time as they were responsible for transporting water for the mules and men. The water wagons are also responsible for a few commonly used terms today. During the Temperance Movement of the early 20th century, phrases like ‘getting on the water wagon’ or ‘I’m on the water wagon now’ were used to indicate that someone was no longer drinking alcohol. To ‘fall off the wagon’ was to begin drinking again. You can learn more unusual historical tidbits at this year’s 65th Wagon Days celebration over Labor Day weekend.

Filed Under: "Rear View" from Regional History

Dog Days of Summer

September 2, 2022 by Kelley Moulton Leave a Comment

By Annette Taylor

F 15001366, Donald Snoddy and Ralph Burrell Collection, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History

Ah, the dog days of summer. Typically considered the “hottest and most unbearable days of the season”, we have experienced quite a bit of those dog days as of late. We live in the glorious Sun Valley, an area that boasts about 205 days of sun per year, bringing a plethora of outdoorsy activities and tourism with it all year round.

In this photo circa 1955, we see the epitome of summer recreation at the Sun Valley Resort. Located at what we know as River Run today, this classic resort advertisement depicts a man in waders fly fishing in the Big Wood River as resort patrons joyfully ride overhead. We have recently passed the 100-day mark until the beloved Bald Mountain opens for the ski season and have plenty of sunny days to enjoy until then; and after.

This image is a reminder to soak up the sun, nature, and beauty this valley has to offer. Do something you love outdoors, be it hiking up this very mountain, biking down it, or maybe just enjoying a schooner near it. Even though living here has its challenges, we are lucky to call this valley and its surroundings our home. 

This photo was donated by Donald Snoddy and Ralph Burrell and was part of a collection of thousands from the photo morgue of the Union Pacific Railroad publicity department. They were saved from destruction in 1982 by Dottie Thomas, who happened to be in Omaha, Nebraska just prior to their being sent to a landfill. Today, they live in the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History Archive at the beautiful Community Library in Ketchum.

Filed Under: "Rear View" from Regional History

Book Review: “What You Have Heard Is True”

September 2, 2022 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Janet Ross-Heiner, Library Assistant and Engilsh Language Instructor recommends What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by Carolyn Forché.

Over the past six years I have cultivated relationships with many patrons who have a great passion for reading. I invite you now to read, What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by Carolyn Forché. Her incantation with writing has a tone that is scorching and poetic. I felt spellbound when reading her. Forché has also written a book of poems. A distilled form of poetry after seven extended trips to Salvador, In the Lateness of The World (811.54 FOR).

Her works are ingrained by her testimony of the El Salvadoran 12-year civil war during the late 1970s into the 1980s, in which tens of thousands were murdered. A clarion work that took her to Salvador with seven extended stays where she experienced grave atrocities. I connected immediately with her storytelling and hypnotic writing as I do with Eduardo Galeano, Rigoberta Menchú, Isabel Allende, and Pablo Neruda, because of my own epistemological experiences in Central America and Latin American studies.

Forché presents truth as something personal and individual, verified by physical senses and therefore impossible to ignore.

Forché presents truth as something personal and individual, verified by physical senses and therefore impossible to ignore. Her memoir suggests that those who truly take the time to walk in the shoes of others will themselves be changed, and that when they speak out against suffering, they do so with authority. What You Have Heard Is True is a beautiful and important book of one poet’s awakening to the suffering of others and to the power of words.

Carolyn Forché lived in Mallorca, Spain, where she spent a summer translating poems of Claribel Alegria, a self-exiled Salvadorian who was Nicaraguan. The book begins when Carolyn, at 27, hears a knock on her door. It was a man whose name was Leonel Gomez. In the back of his car were his two young daughters. Gomez’s name was vaguely familiar to Forché. She remembered Claribel speak of him. He urged her to travel with him back to El Salvador, where she could write for the voiceless. She was a writer, a journalist and an extraordinary poet. Gomez believed a war was inevitable and that the United States had something to do with it. During their first conversation, he spoke of his conviction that poetry could convey across borders the suffering of others and their hope for a better life.

The war Gomez predicted turned out to be just that, a blood bath, sparked by the inequity between the majority living in squalor with a meager subsistence and the wealthy elite that controlled the country. The civil conflict was between Marxist resistance groups fighting against the U.S. backed conservative government. The Government death squads terrorized the country; more than 700,000 people were massacred. The U.S.-backed sanctions and soft coups continue today. Nicaragua is a recent and current target.

Her memoir suggests that those who truly take the time to walk in the shoes of others will themselves be changed, and that when they speak out against suffering, they do so with authority.

I, too, experienced firsthand the covert and illegal insidious U.S.-sponsored Contra War during the 1980s. Living in Nicaragua, I peeled away misinformation and disinformation mostly shared in mainstream news media. Was it alternative truth?

I asked myself often during the 80s when living in Nicaragua: What is a Freedom Fighter and who is the terrorist? 

The Community Library hosted an event on September 1, 2022: ARGO: Behind the Scenes with Jonna Mendez. CIA mastermind and current Hemingway Writer-in-Residence, Jonna Mendez, took us behind-the-scenes in a film about the Iran hostages and the Contra War supported as a covert illegal act. While the event isn’t available for replay, you can check out the film or the book in ebook or eaudiobook from our Digital Collections here.

“Walker, there is no path. You make the path as you walk.”

Antonio Machado

Epilogue: Forché lived in Salvador, 1978-80. Forché’s collection of poems, The Country Between Us, which opens with a series of poems about El Salvador, begins:

In memory of Monsignor Oscar Romero:

Caminante, no hay camino
Se hace camino al andar.

“Walker, there is no path. You make the path as you walk.” ~Antonio Machado.

Find What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance here.

Filed Under: Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

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