14 Banned Books That Are Free Online

For local communities, banning books means removing them from the shelves of local libraries, schools, and bookstores. As a result, physical copies of these books can no longer be accessed by those in the community who want to read them.
 

Slaughterhouse-Five, one of many banned books available for free online.
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What if you're a member of the community, and you still want to read these banned books? What if the libraries, schools, or bookstores in your area never carried these books to begin with? What if there are no bookstores where you live, or the local library was closed for good because of a lack of funding? What if you're physically unable to go to the library or bookstore because of an illness or disability? That's where the Internet comes in.

Many banned books are available for you to read, absolutely free, on the Internet. On the occasion of this year's Banned Books Week, the people at OpenCulture.com listed fourteen of these books; offered explanations for why each of these fourteen books were challenged, banned, or even burned; and provided links leading you to where you can read these books for free online.

Included among the fourteen books that OpenCulture reveals are available for free online are The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ("It did see a 1987 challenge at the Baptist College in Charleston, South Carolina, for 'language' and 'sexual references'); 1984 by George Orwell ("The novel was challenged in Jackson County, Florida, in 1981 for its supposedly 'pro-communist' message, in addition to its 'explicit sexual matter'); In Cold Blood by Truman Capote ("This true crime classic was banned, then reinstated, at Savannah, Georgia's Windsor Forest High School in 2000 after a parent 'complained about sex, violence, and profanity'); and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut ("It's been removed from a sophomore reading list at the Coventry, Rhode Island, high school in 2000; challenged by an organization called LOVE (Livingstone Organization for Values in Education) in Howell, Michigan, in 2007; and challenged, but retained, along with eight other books, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, in 2006").

For these banned books, OpenCulture.com provides links to electronic versions that are compatible with Kindle e-readers, iPads, and iPhones. Some are links to audiobooks of these titles. Other links are to online versions of these books that can be read in HTML and Plain Text formats. All of these books are free for you to read online, at your leisure, and away from the prying eyes of the busybodies in your local community.

To see all fourteen of these banned titles - and for links to the free, electronic versions of these books - see the OpenCulture.com article "Read 14 Great Banned & Censored Novels Free Online: For Banned Books Week 2014" at THIS LINK.