From The Conversation · Susan Farrell · · 2m
Slaughterhouse-Five Censored 50 Years Later
North Dakota school district burned Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' in 1973; the anti-war novel remains banned today.
In brief
North Dakota school district burned Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' in 1973; the anti-war novel remains banned today. North Dakota burned 32 copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' in 1973; the novel continues to face censorship in schools. Originally reported by The Conversation.
Drake school district burns books
In the fall of 1973, North Dakota’s Drake school district burned 32 copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' in a school furnace.
Bruce Severy teaches in Drake
Bruce Severy, a full-bearded, idealistic 26-year-old, moved from Southern California in 1973 to Drake, North Dakota, where he taught English at the public high school.
Severy assigns Slaughterhouse-Five
Severy assigned his sophomore literature class Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' to learn 'how to think, not what to think.'
Parents complain about book
A parent complained about profanity in 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' leading to the Drake school board voting unanimously to remove the book in November 1976.
School burns 32 copies
The district burned 32 copies of the novel in the school furnace after students turned in their copies.
Vonnegut responds to censorship
Kurt Vonnegut wrote to the Drake school board that his books were 'not sexy' and 'beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are.'
“Kurt Vonnegut wrote to the Drake school board that his books were 'not sexy' and did not argue 'in favor of wildness of any kind.' Instead, 'they beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are.'”
Book banned in 2026
In January 2026, Utah’s 'sensitive materials law' allowed the ACLU to file a lawsuit to ban 'Slaughterhouse-Five' from schools.
Pico case reaches Supreme Court
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Board of Education v. Pico that schools may remove books deemed 'pervasively vulgar' or educationally unsuitable.
Book bans rise since 2020
PEN America documented 10,046 book bans in public schools in the 2023, 24 school year, up from 2,532 in 2021, 22.
LGBTQ+ books face bans
George M. Johnson’s memoir 'All Boys Aren’t Blue' and Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel 'Gender Queer' are among the most banned books in recent years.
Black authors targeted
Toni Morrison’s 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Beloved' appear among the top 10 banned books since 2021, with 'Beloved' named the best American fiction since 1980.
The short version
North Dakota burned 32 copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s 'Slaughterhouse-Five' in 1973; the novel continues to face censorship in schools.
