Meet the Authors: Banned Book Week Program to Feature Historic Censorship Event of Books on Trial with Shirley and Wayne Wiegand

In conjunction with Banned Book Week, the authors of Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland will present a program in the Alexander M. Bracken Library’s Forum Room on October 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Prior to the evening program at Bracken Library, there will be a Meet the Authors reception and book signing at Carnegie Library, 301 East Jackson Street, Muncie, Indiana from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Shirley A. Wiegand, Professor Emeritus of Law at Marquette University, will be the main speaker for the program. Her husband and co-author, Wayne A. Wiegand, F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies and Professor of American Studies at Florida State University, will also participate in the program. Although married for 42 years, this is the first time that the two have published together.

Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland tells the story of a raid on the Progressive Bookstore in Oklahoma City in 1940 when local officials seized thousands of books and pamphlets and arrested 20 customers and proprietors. All were detained incommunicado and many were held for months on high bail. Four were tried, convicted, and received 10-year sentences, setting off protests by labor unions, churches, publishers, academics, librarians, and prominent individuals like Woody Guthrie and Eleanor Roosevelt. As a result of the protests, the convictions were overturned on appeal.

The authors have written a compelling book about these events that is due to be published shortly before their program here. They will have copies for purchase and signing at the reception at Carnegie Library and at the evening presentation at Bracken Library.

The events are being sponsored by the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library, the Ball State University Libraries, Muncie Public Library, and Ball State University’s departments of English, History, and Honors College, and the Center for Middletown Studies.

For more information or to join the Friends, contact John B. Straw, Executive Secretary for the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library and Ball State University Libraries’ Director for Archives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.