Missouri achieved a dubious new status recently: It broke the top three in the list of U.S. states that have most egregiously moved to ban books from school libraries.
That’s according to a recent report by the nonprofit Pen America, which charts the nation’s troubling slide toward reactionary right-wing crackdowns on books — including controversial social commentary, serious political criticism and even classic literature.
It’s only the latest indication that once-moderate Missouri is now among the red states leading some of the most disturbing lurches toward intolerance and anti-democracy fervor in the country.
