Censor's Library

The first comprehensive examination of Australian book censorship, this enlightening and enthralling discussion is based on Nicole Moore's discovery of the secret "e;censor's library"e; in the National Archives. Combining scholarship with the narrative tension of a thriller, the book exposes the scandalous history of censorship in Australia. Built and maintained to ensure the books it held were not read-from the Kama Sutra to Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover and Joyce's Ulysses-the censor's library was kept to negate the function of libraries: 793 boxes kept safe and intact for six decades. Through courtroom dramas and internecine bureaucracy, stolen libraries and police raids, authorial scandals and moral panics, this is a provocative account on a subject that continues to attract heated debate.