This theme appeared less frequently than the previous theme, occurring in only 9 percent of all BTI statements. As with “Provided Insight or Shaped Worldview,” this theme appeared in a greater percentage of statements referring to challenged books (17 percent, 8 statements) than unchallenged (8 percent, 20 statements). While the contributor quoted above appreciated Grendel’s unique and challenging worldview, challengers perceived it as antithetical to their own belief systems: It “contain[ed] many anti-government, anti-God, and anti-religion statements.”43 The Chilean military government censored The Revolt of the Masses “based on ignorance of content,” an ironic inversion of the contributor’s praise for its enlightening value.44
Concept 6: Intellectual Influence and Appeal
Given the professions of the contributors, it is unsurprising that many books submitted to the exhibit inspired their readers on an intellectual level. Informative, thought-provoking books that satisfied—or provoked—contributors’ intellectual curiosity abounded in the exhibit: in fact, the two themes in this category were by far the most frequently occurring overall. The books whose statements included these two themes tended to be nonfiction more often than fiction; however, that trend was less consistent among the challenged books than the unchallenged.
Intellectually Inspiring/Factual Learning
This theme encompasses the large number of statements about books that educated their contributors about an interesting topic. However, it also goes beyond the learning of factual information to include statements acknowledging books that were intellectually stimulating more generally. Books that encouraged further learning, that modeled exceptional work in a particular field, or that left their readers with a sense of discovery—thought-provoking books of all types—were praised throughout the exhibit, and this theme summarizes the myriad ways that they appealed.
Alan Lightman’s novel Einstein’s Dreams encouraged me to develop a keener interest in science, a subject that once eluded me and now inspires me. (BTI V)
Albert Hourani’s A History of the Arab Peoples should be required reading for anyone concerned about the Middle East. Many of the current events of today have their roots in the past, but often a less distant past than we imagine. Hourani puts it all in perspective. (BTI V)
For me The Image [A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America] thus poses an exciting intellectual challenge: adopting its remarkably useful descriptive concepts must not foreclose engaging its normative point of view. (BTI IV)
This was the most frequently occurring theme, appearing in 100 (34 percent) of the contributors’ statements. It appeared in a much higher percentage of statements referring to unchallenged books (36 percent, 89 statements) than of those referring to challenged books (23 percent, 11 statements). While most of the unchallenged books in this category were nonfiction, several of the challenged were novels such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (BTI II) and The Grapes of Wrath (BTI VII), whose well-developed historical and sociological contexts readers found instructive. Some of the nonfiction in this category, meanwhile, was challenged for its perceived threat to established values and institutions, such as On the Origin of Species (BTI I, II). The most direct antithesis to this theme appeared in challenges that disputed the factuality of the book. The Rape of Nanking, for example, was praised for “present[ing] a little-known piece of history” (BTI V), but challenges against it contended that that presentation was “‘inaccurate,’ ‘distorted,’ and ‘erroneous.’”45
Professionally Inspiring
Many contributors named favorite books of their professions as inspirations, including both books that provided a model of exceptional work in the contributor’s field and books that piqued their contributor’s initial interest in a particular area of study.
[Crime and Punishment] kindled my interest in the law by making me think about society’s rules and how we treat those who break them. (BTI I)*
[News About the News: American Journalism in Peril] points out many challenges in my chosen profession and has inspired me to practice the craft with a purpose and commitment to pursuing stories that make a difference. (BTI IV)
Statements referring to unchallenged books incorporated this theme much more frequently (30 percent, 76 statements) than those referring to challenged books (6 percent, 3 statements). The three challenged books inspired their contributors’ interest in law (Crime and Punishment, BTI I), literature (Gargantua and Pantagruel, BTI I), and geology (On the Origin of Species, BTI II). Although the three books were censored in various times and places for ideological reasons, obviously none of the challenges cited their potential career influence per se among the reasons to suppress them.
Concept 7: Readership
The foregoing major concepts all focused on the content of the described books. The final recurrent definition of books that inspire was a bit different: It focused instead on the value of the books as books and on the experience of reading. Five distinct themes emerged discussing an element of readership; several statements included more than one of them. All five occurred in higher percentages among the statements about challenged books than among those about unchallenged ones.
Aesthetic and Literary Value
A number of statements praised books for their literary quality. Some mentioned the books’ aesthetic value only in passing in the course of discussing other themes that made the books meaningful; others, however, extolled the artistry of their books as an end in itself.
My first encounter with James Joyce’s Ulysses left me baffled. But, it drew me into a magical world through its byzantine virtuosity. (BTI III)*
[Night Flight is written] in a language beautiful while sparse. (BTI IV)