Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut was published in 1969. It was nominated for The Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1970.
BANNED in Clay County, Bay County, Indian River County, and Volusia County public schools
Author Kurt Vonnegut fought against the book-burning Nazis in WW2 before his imprisonment in Dresden, Germany. During the 1945 bombing of Dresden, Vonnegut sheltered in a slaughterhouse meat locker. Bombs killed 25,000 civilians.
When Vonnegut returned to the United States, he found his local newspaper had not covered the bombing of Dresden. It had been censored.
The 1969 publication of Slaughterhouse Five is a semi-autobiographical story, depicting the horrors of war. It is written in a non-linear style and features fantastic events such as alien abductions. The novel explores the effects of war on the human psyche.
Bay County District Schools declares its reasoning for Slaughterhouse Five’s removal: “The material is pornographic … [it] is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend material.”
This is likely in reference to the character of Montana Wildhack, an adult film actress. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, and Montana are abducted to the alien planet of Tralfamadore. Billy’s utopian life there, including his relationship with Montana, represents his psychological escape from the horrors of WW2.
In response to the removal of Slaughterhouse Five from Bay County public schools, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library donated thousands of copies to students, of which I was a recipient.
“Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations that hate books and burn them.”