Living the First Amendment: Gordon Conable, Madonna’s Sex, and the Monroe County (MI) Library

Sylvia Turchyn

Abstract


Whenever a library fulfills its mission of purchasing popular books, like best-sellers and titles in high demand, it usually will carry on quietly, without much community controversy. But what happens when the best-seller and in-demand title is also a highly charged sex fantasy full of graphic photographs of one of the most recognizable popular figures of the day, who also happens to be the book’s author? Community outrage, organized protest, multiple and counter legal opinions, terrorist threats to the library, and multiple death threats to the library director were some of the responses to Monroe County Library System’s purchase and open circulation of Madonna’s book Sex.


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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/jifp.v1i4.6316

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