Book Bans, Disinformation, and Cultural Erasure

This book shows how today’s waves of book bans and disinformation campaigns intentionally drive the cultural erasure of marginalized communities—and what we can do to stop them.Across schools, libraries, and museums—in the United States and elsewhere—the coordinated onslaught of efforts to remove books and roll back diversity initiatives are reshaping public life. While both these methods of cultural control have been widely used for centuries, their nefarious role as part of a larger effort has been overlooked. This book connects the dots between censorship, disinformation, and cultural erasure and explores the sturdiness of democracy in a period of enormous political upheaval.Blending research with real-world examples across time and place, it offers practical ways to push back on this alarming movement—through advocacy strategies, direct actions, educational activities, research initiatives, and legal and policy changes.When we understand these threats as interconnected, we are better able to combat them. This perspective empowers educators, cultural heritage professionals, and supporters of democratic institutions to defend the spaces where knowledge is shared and preserved.