From the Publisher: Throughout history, tyrants, totalitarian states, church institutions, and democratic governments alike have banned books that challenged their assumptions or questioned their activities. Political censorship was even applied to ancient Greek dramas during the Nazi occupation in 1942. Political suppression also occurs in the name of "security" and the safeguarding of official secrets, and is often used as a weapon in larger cultural or political battles. Such censorship has affected every form of writing; Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds illustrates its extent and frequency.