Between 2023 and 2024, more than 10,000 books were banned in the U.S. This is a drastic increase compared to the 2,571 books banned in 2022. According to the First Amendment Mueseun, the ten most common causes for bans are sexual content, offensive language, unsuited to age groups, religious viewpoints, LGBTQIA+ content, violence, racism, use of illegal substances, “anti-family” content, and political viewpoints. Cold Blood was considered the first true crime book, which expedited the banning. In Cold Blood was banned for its sensitive themes, which include murder, sex, foul language, the supernatural, and drug use. These topics caused the banning of In Cold Blood and several analogous books. In Cold Blood was banned for its reoccurring topics of violence, sex, particularly the movie, and foul language. …show more content…
“American Psycho,” by Bret Easton Ellis. Although the movie is readily available, the original novel is restricted in Australia for its inclusion of graphic violence and sex, and was completely banned in the State of Queensland.”(Busselton Libraries). In American Psycho, the main character, Patrick Bateman, struggles with his mental health; he suffers from an array of mental disorders including Asperger's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. Because of these ailments, he drugs, rapes, and kills a woman, but this is not his only murder. In the book, he kills a total of 30 humans and four animals. “Yes, it was a bit hard to read due [to] the literally cold-blooded reaction to the murders by the men. The crime scene photos, which were not in the book, are particularly horrifying even 50 years later.”(WordPress). Bret Easton Ellis, the author, uses this, and Bateman’s excessive care for materialism, and his appearance, to show the surface-level and vicious elements of