Banned Camp: Banned Books, Comedy, and Free Speech vs. Censorship
Jennifer Davis and Dan Schulz – satirical storytellers, critics of book bans, and irreverent humorists exploring banned literature, challenged books, and other cultural controversies.
Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.Every season, we tackle a new banned book, reading it chapter by chapter (out loud, because we’re thorough like that). Then, we break it all down and ask, “What in this chapter made someone clutch their pearls and scream, ‘BAN IT!’?” Spoiler: it’s rarely what you’d expect.One thing stands out: the people banning these books rarely seem to have read them. Sure, we find a few eyebrow-raising moments here and there, but nothing that screams, “This should be banned!”We think banning books is dumb, but the quest to uncover their so-called controversies keeps us going.Join us—and our listeners, "The Scary Book People"—as we explore why some dum-dums seem so eager to drag us back to the dark ages, one banned book at a time.In past seasons, we’ve covered classics like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.This season, we’re diving into Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.By reading books like these, we can find answers to big questions like:Why are banned books important?What does “banned books” mean?What does “challenged” books mean?How does banning books affect students?What is the most banned book?How do book bans work?Should book banning be allowed?Are book bans constitutional?Which books are banned in the US?What is the most challenged book of all time?
