Since 1982, the American Library Association has sponsored Banned Books Week to pay tribute to free speech and open libraries. The tradition began as a nod to how far society has come since 1557, when Pope Paul IV first established The Index of Prohibited Books to protect Catholics from controversial ideas. Four-hundred and nine years later, Pope Paul VI would abolish it, although attempts at censorship still remain. Here, TIME presents some of the most challenged books of all time.
- Candide, Voltaire
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
- Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
- The Anarchist Cookbook, William Powell
- The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
- Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling