The Most Exciting Room in Washington

Let’s get the bad news over with first.

We’ve grown used to book banners going after novels like Beloved, 1984, and The Handmaid’s Tale. But now the censors are coming for nonfiction.

According to a report released yesterday by PEN America, attacks on nonfiction books are surging.

In the 2024-25 school year, nearly a third of the titles banned were works of nonfiction — more than double the previous year’s share.