How Teachers Can Make Sense of Our Current Book Banning Moment

by Henry “Cody” Miller

I am writing this blog post in early February 2025. The last few weeks have been filled with headlines that cause despair and frustration: radical executive orders that mandate the erasure of BIPOC narratives and attempt to ban LGBTQ people from public life; increased threats to teachers’ and students’ intellectual freedoms called a “hoax” from the White House; threats to dismantle the Department of Education; and so on. We are witnessing coordinated attacks on Inclusive, pluralistic, and welcoming public schools. 

As an English educator — first as a public school teacher in Florida for seven years, now in my sixth year as a teacher educator in New York — I’ve witnessed attacks on our field since early 2021. I’m sure readers of this blog are familiar with the rising wave of book bans and curricular gag orders from school boards, state legislatures, and governors’ mansions.  

How did our curriculum as English teachers become flashpoints in political debates? Why did attempts to expand who is represented in our classrooms get met with hostile backlash? Who is creating and passing laws that limit our intellectual freedom in schools and libraries? And what can we do to create the schools our students deserve? These are looming questions in our public life right now that have multifaceted answers. No one article, podcast, chapter or book could answer every question. However, a slew of books published in the past few years offer important insight for educators and people invested in the promise of public schools. 

The list below is by no means exhaustive. Academics, journalists, and advocates will continue to publish important work that covers the same topics in the future. Rather, this list is a potential starting point for those who would like one.  

The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual by Jennifer C. Berkshire and Jack Schneider (2024) Journalist Jennifer Berkshire and professor Jack Schneider’s latest book offers a pathway for advocating for public schools in our current political moment. The duo, who host the podcast Have You Heard, narrate the origins of this current moment in education marked by book bans, underfunded schools, and bellicose school board meetings. The book pairs its history lessons with action steps that its readers can take in their immediate contexts.

On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care by Victor Ray (2023) Professor Victor Ray’s book informs readers the key tenets of critical race theory as well as foundational scholars in the field. From there, Ray demonstrates the necessity of critical race theory in creating a fair and just society. His book examines how critical race theory became a moral panic for reactionary politicians over the last three years. Rather than recoil from the fight over critical race theory, Ray’s book shows why we should advocate for critical race theory as a lens to better understand our contemporary society.

They Came for the Schools One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms by Mike Hixenbaugh (2024)  Journalist Mike Hixenbaugh’s book examines how political extremist gain power and operate on school board through the story of one suburban district in Texas. Hixenbaugh’s book is a development from his podcast Southlake. Like his podcast, Hixenbaugh weaves together historical narratives, contemporary interviews, and personal insight to illustrate the role schools play in our political life. The book also narrates how coalitions of teachers, parents, students, and community members work together to push against regressive political forces.

The books I’ve outlined narrate with urgency the cultural and political moment we’re in. These books also point to a way out of this tumultuous moment. Together, with other educators, community members, students, and allies we can forge a better path. As these books suggest (either explicitly or implicitly), we each have a part to play in building the schools our students deserve. We each have our own set of tools at our disposal we can use; find the levers you can pull and pull as hard as you can. 

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Henry “Cody” Miller is an associate professor of English education at SUNY Brockport. Previously, was a high school English teacher in Florida for seven years.