Column: Freedom to read: a ‘pretty darn good thing’
And author event at library; comics
By Sarah Murphy
Greenwich Free Library
In celebration of the current exhibit on display in the library’s Community Room – Baseball: Once Simple, Still Timeless – we screened a few popular baseball films last weekend, starting with the great 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.” When was the last time you saw that movie, and what do you remember about it? The iconic, “If you build it, he will come” whispers from the corn fields. The leave-no-eye-dry final scene, just a game of catch. Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones sitting together at Fenway Park, or Jones extolling the virtues of baseball in the pitch perfect “People will come, Ray” speech. But do you remember the inciting incident that introduces James Earl Jones’s character, novelist turned recluse Terence Mann, into the action of the movie? It’s an attempted book ban.
Ray Kinsella (Costner) and his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) attend a PTA meeting at their local Iowa school that turns contentious as a small group of parents ask that a novel by Mann be removed from school classrooms and libraries, calling it “smut and filth.” A school board member attempts to explain the book’s literary merit, but others call out words like “pornography” and “pervert” in an attempt to discredit the book and the school board. This is when Annie gets involved, first by defending the author as “a warm and gentle voice of reason during a time of great madness,” then by attacking the would-be book banner as a “Nazi cow.” Finally, Annie energizes the entire auditorium and brings them around to her point of view by asking, “Who wants to burn books? Who wants to spit on the Constitution of the United States? Anybody?” She is met with silence, and continues, “Who’s for the Bill of Rights? Who thinks freedom is a pretty darn good thing?...Who thinks that we have to stand up to the kind of censorship that they had under Stalin?” Everyone raises their hand. Censorship and book banning has been rejected, rendered as absurd, fascistic, and utterly anti-American.
This was the 1980s, hardly a progressive era. The movie is a corn-fed celebration of family and baseball. Annie’s speech was not radical; it was common sense. Banning books was the radical act, celebrating freedom was the treasured right of all Americans.
In 2023, the American Library Association reported the highest number of challenged titles ever documented. According to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, 4,240 unique book titles were targeted for censorship, representing a surge of 65% over the previous year. It was not always like this. For comparison, 183 titles were challenged in 2014. This recent vigor for banning books would have seemed bizarre to the viewers of “Field of Dreams” back in 1989. More than bizarre, dangerous. Anti-American. Most of us still see this trend as inherently opposed to freedom, so what accounts for the massive numbers? ALA reports that the surge is the result of pressure from politicized groups or individuals demanding the censorship of multiple titles, “often dozens or hundreds at a time.” Furthermore, 47% of the titles targeted for censorship made the list for representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQ individuals and people of color. We try to eliminate what we fear, and it appears that book banners fear their own neighbors who don’t look, love, or live the way they do.
“Field of Dreams” was based on a book: “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella. The Terence Mann character, played by James Earl Jones in the film, was named J.D. Salinger in the book. Yes, that J.D. Salinger. Famously a recluse later in life, Salinger threatened legal action should his name and likeness be used in any future adaptation. So for the sake of the movie, Salinger became Mann, a fictional author who had stopped publishing, sought solace, and whose best works were beloved by many, banned by others. From 1990-2000, Salinger’s classic, “The Catcher in the Rye” was the tenth most frequently challenged book, according to ALA’s data. It might seem quaint to have seen “The Catcher in the Rye” – widely assigned, broadly popular, maybe a little old fashioned but still as honest a depiction of adolescence as we’re likely to read–as dangerous. But when we allow others to dictate what is and is not appropriate for our bookshelves, our classrooms, our families, and our libraries, we give up our right to choose, and we can’t predict what will be deemed dangerous to whom.
Known for his voice as much as for his acting, the late James Earl Jones also recorded several audiobooks throughout his career. If you search for this information online, the first audio title listed is the Holy Bible. Which also happens to be the 52nd most frequently challenged book from 2010-2019.
Sarah Murphy is director of The Greenwich Free Library.
Also at the Library: ‘From Greenwich Village to the Village of…’
Washington County resident James Ballard will present his debut novel, FLAME on October 10th at 6:30 pm at the Greenwich Free LIbrary in Greenwich, New York. The historical fiction novel, set in NYC’s vibrant downtown art scene between 1964 and 1980, introduces Qwerty Blanc, a self taught, enigmatic, young artist who arrives in Greenwich Village and soon finds himself among the iconic figures of the modern art world.
Ballard, a practicing architect and lifelong artist was born in Monticello, NY, but spent most of his life in NYC and is writing under the pen name, Roland James Ballard. He first committed to put the story (interspersed with his own personal stories & conversations) into print nearly a decade ago. The resulting short and informative novel offers the reader a fun & realistic glimpse into a transformative period of NYC’s cultural history. It explores themes of art, war, family and community. Yet, it is the story’s deeper dive into the artist’s intrinsic struggles of identity, notoriety and fame that is the true “genius of Flame.”
FLAME, published by Kitsap Publishing of Poulsbo, Washington state, was released in August is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, Bookshop.org and directly from the publisher at https://kitsap-publishing.myshopify.com/products/flame. More information about the book, the author and upcoming readings and events can be found at the website, www.flame-jamesballard.com and the podcast, Kitsap Publishing Deep Dive, https://twog.buzzsprout.com/1768651/episodes/15782116-flame.
Greenwich Free Library is located at 148 Main Street in the Village of Greenwich, New York.
And Now for the Comics … ‘College Edge’ by Sandra Mizumoto Posey
That’s it for today. More tomorrow!