Book banners, a stripper’s union, Katherine Dunn’s parables, and more
Keith Preston
June 2, 2023
“Books about sex aren’t the only ones being banned these days,” Jane Smiley writes for our latest cover. At the top of the list are books about slavery, sexuality, personal crises, and the effects of historical American cruelty on various subcultures. What are the book banners afraid of?
According to Smiley, “they are afraid of readers—especially young readers—learning the truth about humans, about American history, about, perhaps, their own lives.”
The newly unionized Star Gardens strippers are a triumph for the labor movement, proving that regardless of their profession, when workers unite, they can win.
Dunn’s books are often described as cult classics, which fits not only in the sense that they inspire devotion but also in the sense that cults of personality always appear in them.
In a country that treats disabled people like expensive burdens and that teaches people to hate and fear disabilities, activists argue that true bodily autonomy is not possible.
