Throwback Thursday: Dubuque obscenity debate draws national attention

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Just saw this article;

Dubuque County Attorney John L. Duffy ordered the confiscation of several public library books in an obscenity case 65 years ago this month.

Members of several local women’s groups likened the confiscated books to atom bombs, according to a report in the March 11, 1951, edition of the Telegraph Herald.

The case reverberated beyond the tri-state area, with Time magazine describing the dispute as Dubuque taking sides “either with the good ladies in church clubs or the lusty wenches of fiction.”

The women hastened to point out, however, that they are not quarreling with the county attorney but are simply trying to remove “a vicious and habit-forming evil” from the community by cleaning up newsstands.

I just thought of that one line in Field of Dreams when I read this; "They're Talking about banning books again! Really subversive books, like The Wizard of Oz, Diary of Anne Frank!"

[vlakitti]

1. Great find! Thanks.