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Dear Mr. McCarthy
In October of 1973, a high school English teacher in North Dakota decided to use Slaughterhouse Five in his classroom. When Charles McCarthy, the head of the school board, later heard of this he had all 32 copies burned in the school’s furnace, using the book’s apparent “obscene language” as his reason. Kurt Vonnegut sent this letter to him the following week. November 16, 1973 Dear Mr. McCarthy: I am writing to you in your capacity as chairman of the Drake School Board. I am among those American writers whose books have been destroyed in the now famous furnace of your school. Certain members of your community have suggested that…
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Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Published: 1953 I’d previously read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Bradbury’s Zen and the Art of Writing. I always felt a bit ashamed of myself for never having read any of his fiction, so I decided to start with his best-known novel. The story follows Guy Montag, a fireman in a dystopian future, one that seems eerily possible in many ways. In this future, fireman have nothing to do with putting out fires. Homes have been made fireproof, so there is no need for that. His job is to light fires, specifically to track down illegal books and set them alight. He very much enjoys his work…