Censorship The freedom to read is essential to the democratic way of life. But today, that freedom is under attack. Private groups and public authorities everywhere are working to remove both books and periodicals from sale, to exclude certain books from public schools, to censor and silence magazines and newspapers, and to limit controversial books and periodicals to the general public. The suppression of reading materials is suppression of creative thought. Books and periodicals are not the only things being suppressed by pressures to the political and social systems. They are also being brought against the educational system, films, radio, television, and against the graphic and theater a