This theme appeared in BTI statements referring to challenged books (21 percent, 10 statements) at a higher rate than in those statements referring to unchallenged books (12 percent, 30 statements). The challenges again seem to arise from a matter of interpretation and focus. It is not that challengers reject the morals or values ascribed to these books; rather, they do not interpret them as representing those values. For example, while the three contributors of To Kill A Mockingbird (BTI II, IV) describe a book embodying values of dignity, courage, racial equality, and common humanity, challengers charged the book “represents institutionalized racism under the guise of ‘good literature,” and that “the setting dehumanizes the African-American child. It is belittling to the African-American student and race.”37 The contributor who saw in Émile, or On Education “a treatise on the importance of education for shaping good citizens” (BTI II) disagreed, across centuries, with the archbishop of Paris who condemned it shortly after its publication for its “abominable doctrines.”38 In many cases, such as that of All Quiet on the Western Front, charges that a book was vulgar precluded recognition of other moral value.39
Introspection/Self-Examination
These statements praised books specifically for encouraging their readers to reflect on themselves, to consider their behavior and their moral understanding, to resist self-satisfaction, and to attempt to better themselves accordingly.
Read [The Giving Tree] now, and in every season of your life, and reflect on whether you are giving back as much as you have received. (BTI V)*
[Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life] challenged me to examine what I do, how I do it, and why. (BTI I)
Only 9 percent of all statements incorporated this theme. It appeared at a greater rate in statements referring to unchallenged books (9 percent, 23 statements) than challenged (6 percent, 3 statements). None of those challenges’ grounds directly mirrored this inspirational theme.
Concept 5: Worldview or Philosophy
Statements with the next two themes celebrated books that had had a special influence on their contributors’ understanding of the world. Books with the capacity to shape one’s outlook—to explain the world for their readers—were deeply valued.
Provided Insight or Shaped Worldview
A major interpretation of “books that inspire” was “books that teach.” Contributors of all types of books—challenged and unchallenged, popular fiction and specialized scholarly texts—mused on what they had learned from their chosen books. Unsurprising, then, that the lessons cited varied as widely as did the nominated titles. Statements with this theme spoke of books that taught their readers how to view the world, imparting insights that went beyond the factual to shape the contributors’ attitudes toward and understanding of their subjects. As with so many of the other categories, these lessons ranged from the specific (books that formed their contributors’ understanding of a given topic) to the fundamental (books that shaped their contributors’ basic understanding of society or human nature).
Kafka [in The Castle] illustrates how unidentifiable organs of power really do ultimately control every aspect of our lives, down to the most intimate detail. (BTI I)*
[Framework for Understanding Poverty showed that] schools operate from middle-class norms with hidden rules. Children from poverty come to school with a completely different set of hidden rules. What an eye opener! (BTI III)
This theme appeared in a higher percentage of statements referring to challenged books (29 percent, 14 statements) than unchallenged (18 percent, 45 statements). The idea of shaping one’s worldview was not in and of itself condemned, but specific worldviews were often the subject of suppression when they offended those in authority. Kafka’s worldview was “branded as decadent and defeatist when Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948.”40 A contributor who named On the Origin of Species noted, “Reading Darwin opened my mind to a new way of thinking about the world. It gave me an exciting insight into how scientists think and reason, and helped me understand that change, both biological and human, is inevitable, but unpredictable” (BTI I). This new worldview “aroused immediate and passionate disagreement, was placed on the Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and continues to be the subject of censorship in the schools of certain American states and in Islamic countries.”41 Don Quixote, whose BTI contributor concentrated on the book’s openness to subjectivity, was “placed on the Spanish Index for a single sentence … ‘Works of charity performed negligently have neither merit nor value,’” for its hint of Lutheran beliefs—an example of censor and inspired reader displaying the same theme despite focusing on markedly different aspects of their books.42
Challenged Own Worldview/Expanded Horizons
Many contributors appreciated books that opened their eyes to important issues that they had never previously considered, a theme closely connected to the widespread appreciation of books that taught something to their readers. Some of the statements with this theme went beyond recognizing books that broadened their contributors’ horizons and specifically praised those that challenged their preexisting worldviews.
[Grendel] tests one’s ability to take a critical look at self, society, beliefs. It challenges us to feel sympathy and understanding for what we would normally despise, laugh at what we would normally take gravely serious, and challenge what ideals we would normally accept blindly. Grendel challenges you to question, learn, grow, understand, and think. (BTI IV)*
My father was an English immigrant from a coal mining family in Cumberland. A proud socialist member of the British Labour Party, he taught me that the socialists were all good guys fighting the fascists who were all evil. Ortega y Gasset’s [The Revolt of the Masses], encountered in my freshman year, made a compelling case that all mass movements shared common virtues and vices. (BTI II)*
[Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America] transformed my attitude about being an artist in the United States today. (BTI I)