Book bans were on the rise in the 2023-24 school year–sometimes for understandable reasons, sometimes not.
Tag Archives: William Shakespeare
Unexpected Book Bans
Harris’s Use of Goneril Tactics
In Tuesday’s presidential debate, Harris played Goneril and Regan to Trump’s King Lear. With differences, of course.
Thoughts on Book Bans
Books are unsettling, which is why they are often banned. But we need to be unsettled to get a handle on the chaos that confronts us.
The Dangerous Power of Libraries
Libraries as described by poet Paul Engle are sometimes repositories of dynamite, sometimes of comfort.
Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner
Think of Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner, a conman who thinks he can trick people he’s revealed his tricks to.
Biden, Macbeth, and Passing the Torch
An MSNBC commentator cited a line from “Macbeth” to characterize Joe Biden’s decision not to run for a second term/
Shakespeare Stood Up for Immigrants
As Trump and MAGA call for mass deportations, Shakespeare asks us to see the world from the immigrants’ point of view.
Why Fiction Terrifies People
I announce my forthcoming book and contrast it with a similar book–“Dangerous Fictions”–coming out soon.