
Uncensored
Educators Speak Out on Teaching in a Time of Book Bans
Jonna Perrillo(Author)
Harvard Educational Publishing Group
Published on 7. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
979-8-89557-063-0 (ISBN)
Description
Educators at the frontlines of the censorship wars share stories of survival and strategies for resistance
American educators are contending with an unprecedented wave of restrictions on reading-indeed, a majority of today's secondary English teachers and students have less of a say over what gets read in school than at any time since the 1960s. By amplifying the voices of teachers and librarians directly impacted by this broad effort to control young people's reading experiences, Jonna Perrillo reveals in Uncensored the true forces behind the movement and how best to fight back.
Current attacks on DEI initiatives, inclusive teaching practices, and marginalized groups have their roots in the culture wars, but they also build upon a framework of state standardization, scripted curricula, and other technocratic features of modern English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. Perrillo makes these connections clear as she shares firsthand accounts of how ELA teachers and librarians, already accustomed to externally designed and constrained instruction, are meeting the challenges of censorship in public and private K-12 schools while simultaneously devising successful strategies to preserve the right to read.
With its inspiring stories from real teachers and librarians and practical recommendations, Uncensored offers more than an encounter with illiberal interference in the classroom. It explains how educators can foster strong reading cultures and establish vital community networks to ensure meaningful, deep reading experiences continue.
American educators are contending with an unprecedented wave of restrictions on reading-indeed, a majority of today's secondary English teachers and students have less of a say over what gets read in school than at any time since the 1960s. By amplifying the voices of teachers and librarians directly impacted by this broad effort to control young people's reading experiences, Jonna Perrillo reveals in Uncensored the true forces behind the movement and how best to fight back.
Current attacks on DEI initiatives, inclusive teaching practices, and marginalized groups have their roots in the culture wars, but they also build upon a framework of state standardization, scripted curricula, and other technocratic features of modern English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. Perrillo makes these connections clear as she shares firsthand accounts of how ELA teachers and librarians, already accustomed to externally designed and constrained instruction, are meeting the challenges of censorship in public and private K-12 schools while simultaneously devising successful strategies to preserve the right to read.
With its inspiring stories from real teachers and librarians and practical recommendations, Uncensored offers more than an encounter with illiberal interference in the classroom. It explains how educators can foster strong reading cultures and establish vital community networks to ensure meaningful, deep reading experiences continue.
Reviews / Votes
"Jonna Perrillo has produced our first comprehensive, empirically grounded account of the ways that classroom instructors navigate attacks on their professional capacities and responsibilities. Her book will be an invaluable resource for scholars of censorship, and-even better-for teachers who want to resist it." - Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of history of education, University of Pennsylvania"A vital, illuminating, and empathetic portrait of just how far the educational censorship movement has reached into schools and libraries across the US. By giving voice to the teachers and librarians on the frontlines, Perrillo offers an essential manual for fighting back against censorship and ensuring intellectual freedom and democracy can thrive in the classroom and beyond." - Summer Lopez, Interim Co-CEO, PEN America
"Perrillo's book makes a lasting contribution to understanding the historic and modern practices of book censorship that prevent students from accessing the vast potential of story and becoming lifelong readers." - Emily Kirkpatrick, executive director, National Council of Teachers of English
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
378 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-89557-063-0 (9798895570630)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2026
Harvard Education Press
€26.49
Available for download
Persons
Jonna Perrillo is an education historian and professor of English Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her most recent book is Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands, and her writing has appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, Boston Review, Washington Post, Slate, and Time.