Hello, folks, and welcome to the blog.
My name is Hannah Lord, I’m 18 years old, and I am studying pre-med biology at Lehigh University. And upon hearing this, you may be wondering, “what is an 18 year old biology major doing writing about banned books?”
That, my friend, is a wonderful question.
Have you ever thought about how many advancements in our knowledge we’ve had since the beginning of civilization? To sum it up, a whole lot. But, each of these advancements started as an idea, and that idea had to get spread to the people of the world in order for it to be adopted. The very first advancements can be traced all the way back to the beginning of mankind, however, when they started writing them down was another story… and another issue.
The pattern is always the same: someone has a thought, test it, and share it. When others learn about this, it allows them to think more freely for themselves, thus allowing them to question the world they live in. This is when advancements are made; when people realize there is something about their world that can and should change.
Advancements in knowledge and life are good, though, right? Well, not if you’re a dictator of an empire. This is where banning books, texts, ideas, and their owners begins. In ancient Rome, books were burned and writers were hung because of their thoughts and realizations about their society.
As I digress, THAT is why I, an 18 year old biology major, care about book banning and and writing a blog on it. If you think about it, yes the classics are banned for sexual overtones… but how many scientific journals were banned because it questioned the church? Learning what was deemed dangerous knowledge to those in the past is what allows us to shape our future.
….. and because it’s for an assignment…. 🙂
Enjoy the Blog!
A Band of Banned Books 