I was a teenager when the first “Fahrenheit 451” movie was produced in 1966. The film was based upon Ray Bradbury’s novel of a future dystopian society where books were banned to control thought and prevent dissent. Firemen were empowered to seize and burn all books — Bradbury used 451 because he was advised that paper autoignites at that temperature (it is within the range).

People were encouraged in the movie to rat out their bibliophile neighbors who were arrested for secretly having books. A fireman fell for a book-loving woman, and yes, the plot heated up.

The movie’s theme disturbed me. As a teenager, I already treasured our American rights to read what we wanted and to exercise freedom of speech. Those rights aren’t absolute as defamatory words and child pornography are examples of communication and publication that should be prohibited. However, we must be zealous in protecting our right to access and read controversial material.

It was disquieting to contemplate a world where unlimited access to books wasn’t the accepted norm, although humanity has always had book banners and destroyers. It’s ironic that Bradbury’s book was recently on a list of materials suggested for restriction in Oklahoma.

Banning books began in America before our nation existed. The first prohibited book was written in 1624 by Thomas Morton, an individual who was at odds with Puritan society and left to form the community of Merrymount. The book compared some Puritans to crustaceans and lampooned them for many things including their genocide of Indigenous people. It was not well received in Puritan New England (I wonder why).

The last book restricted by the federal government in America was “Fanny Hill” (the memoirs of a woman of pleasure). The book was prohibited in 1821 and again in 1963 as being obscene. “The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “Lolita,” “Animal Farm” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” are examples of literature that have been the subject of attempted or outright bans in the United States and elsewhere.

Some primary driving forces for book bans throughout the world are perceived obscenity, religious intolerance and the stifling of opposing political and/or moral thought.

A book recently banned in virtually every Islamic country in the world is Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” The novel infuriated many Muslims as blasphemous and caused the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran to call for a fatwa directing followers to kill the author who had to go into hiding.

Any government, religion or entity that seeks to destroy literature contrary to its underpinnings is insecure in its legitimacy. If what you believe or speak is the truth, it should withstand critical opposition.

The images of book bonfires in “Fahrenheit 451” are similar to those seen in Nazi Germany after Adolf Hitler came to power. Jewish literature and many other books, including “Oliver Twist” and “The Communist Manifesto,” were tossed into the inferno to try and control the thoughts of Germans.

Ironically, at the end of World War II, “Mein Kampf” by Hitler, was banned from publication and ownership in Germany and Austria. “Mein Kampf” was not printed in Germany from 1945 until 2016. Given the Nazis’ atrocities, I understand the ban’s motivation, but it is still an effort to control thought.

Book banning is censorship that should be resisted absent compelling justification. It has come back in style in the United States as efforts to challenge and ban books at school and public libraries have accelerated. Many of the objections are fueled by a campaign agenda titled No Left Turn in Education, which seeks to prohibit books focusing upon alternative lifestyles and disputing institutional racism in America.

Librarians are finding themselves caught in the cross-fire of a culture war. Nat Hentoff’s book “Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee” discusses how the American left and right relentlessly try to censor each other, noting, “the lust to suppress can come from any direction.”

As much as people find some speech offensive, we must work to protect this right. Noam Chomsky said it well: “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas observed, “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

Hitler aimed to inculcate his people to an ideology of hate and exclusivity by promoting their ignorance — we can’t let that happen in America. Librarians and review boards must remain vigilant against banning books absent compelling justification so that we remain an educated, free and inclusive society.

Jesse Robison is a Pocatello native educated in Idaho. He works as a mediator and insurance claim consultant, but his passion is public art. Robison has spearheaded art improvements throughout Pocatello, and serves on the Bistline Foundation.