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I have an un-censored version of Fahrenheit 451. That's right: editors have actually censored the most famous book ever written about censorship. Ray Bradbury had this to say on the topic: " I discovered that, over the years, some cubby-hole editors at Ballantine Books, fearful of contaminating the young, had, bit by bit, censored some 75 separate sections from the novel." (1)

With more than 5 million copies in print, Fahrenheit 451 has become a classic-not bad for what began as a science-fiction short story. (2) It has become the iconic tale of censorship, with the images of its Firemen coloring the discourse on actual book burnings.

Fahrenheit 451 remains crucially relevant today: every time a book is edited for objectionable content, every time a little piece is deleted, that book becomes less than it was. In the age of political correctness, all speech is carefully monitored, and works hundreds of years old are re-written to conform to modern standards. As Bradbury wrote: "The point is obvious. There is more than one way to burn a book."(3)

(1) Ray Bradbury, "Coda," Fahrenheit 451, Del Ray, 1996: p 176.
(2) "The Fireman," published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1950.
(3) Ray Bradbury, "Coda," Fahrenheit 451, Del Ray, 1996: p 175.

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