Trailer for the new edition of Stifled Laughter: One Woman’s Story About Fighting Censorship
“As the battle over censorship and book banning rages on, Claudia Johnson helps us understand why it’s more important than ever to keep books on the shelves. Told with passion, humor, and an enduring love of literature, this is a must read for all book lovers.” — Judy Blume
“As witty, funny and light on its feet as it is important. Distinguish your day and buy this book.” — Charles Gaines, finalist for National Book Award and NYT bestselling author of over 20 books
“Hooray for Claudia Johnson, she’s an American hero!” — Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy
“Johnson, whose earlier version of Stifled Laughter won the 1993 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award and garnered a Pulitzer Prize nomination, writes with intellectual depth, human-scale understanding, and high good humor. This brings her perspective to the current day when book banning has become has become a typical tactic for various groups, often politically fueled and initiated by people who have never read the full works in question . . . Added to this new edition is Johnson’s recent, also successful participation in opposing the effort of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to have other, more contemporary books removed from school libraries.” — Book Reporter
“Claudia Johnson captures it all: the hilarity and horror of public comments about classic literature, the tedium and terror of court processes, the alternating beauty and belligerence of Florida, and the personal toll that too often attends standing up for the right to read. I suppose we can take some comfort in the fact that her opposition to school board censorship probably isn't why her house burned down. — James LaRue, former head of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom
“The Florida book-banning battles have made Ms. Johnson a heroine of the anti-censorship movement; in 1993 she was the first recipient of the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. While her story offers a vivid lesson on the politics of censorship, the real appeal of 'Stifled Laughter' is the joyful spirit with which she recounts the quotidian progress of her personal campaign against book banning.” –The New York Times Book Review
Stifled Laughter
Claudia Johnson’s life changed one hot summer day when she was thirteen years old and she read Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale.” Until then, she had no idea that literature could be so alive and so funny. Literature, she discovered, could leap centuries and change people’s lives. Her life changed again in 1986 when the local school board voted to ban “The Miller’s Tale” and Lysistrata from the high school curriculum. Outraged and amazed that anyone would stifle this glorious laughter, she and two other women sued the school board. What followed was a five-year-long federal fight.
Part memoir, part courtroom drama, part primer for fighting assaults on free speech, Stifled Laughter is the story of one woman’s efforts to restore literary classics to the classrooms of rural north Florida. Johnson’s honest, often hilarious, first-person account of censorship in its modern form provides valuable insight into why what our children read at school remains a controversial issue, and why free speech in America remains a precarious right.
For anyone who has ever wondered just how far the religious right will go in limiting free expression, this book proves once again that the personal is political. Parents and teachers, writers and readers – all will benefit from Johnson’s experience and all will be touched by her spirit.
*** Pre-order now and get the book early — and autographed by the author — at https://www.fulcrumbooks.com/preorder
Editorial Reviews
“All across the country school boards and town councils are being hit by far right attacks on great books. When it happened in the town where Claudia Johnson was living, she stuck her neck out. A playwright, novelist, scriptwriter and scholar, steeped in literature’s classics and armed with a wicked sense of humor, Johnson couldn’t let the yahoos take Aristophanes and Chaucer away from teens who might learn as much from them as she had. Her memoir, Stifled Laughter, takes you with her, moment by tense moment, on a wild ride through contentious public meetings, nerve-wracking courtroom sessions, and seeing her house burned to the ground. If you don’t like the campaign to dumb down our public schools, Stifled Laughter shows you the way to defend the dedicated teachers and librarians who need you with them. – Ann Medlock, Founder of the Giraffe Heroes Project, Honoring people who stick their necks out for the common good
“The republication of Claudia Johnson's beautifully written memoir of her fight against book banning in two Florida towns in the 1980s and 1990s couldn't be more timely. It occurred during a period of intense censorship activity in schools and libraries across the country. There are differences between that struggle and the serious challenge to the freedom to read we face today. But one thing remains the same—the critical importance of the brave individuals like Johnson who stand up to the censors.” — Chris Finan, Executive Director of National Coalition Against Censorship
“It is a very good thing for the Republic that Stifled Laughter has been republished by Fulcrum Publishing, since never in the history of that Republic have the values promoted by the book been under such critical assault. “Stifled Laughter” demonstrates that book-banning in a small, rural Florida community is but one manifestation of a toxic national mentality that threatens us all. More important, it demonstrates that one person’s courage and determination CAN make a difference in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds. All of this could have made for a parched, didactic book; but Ms. Johnson has given us one that is as witty, funny and light on its feet as it is important. Distinguish your day and buy this book.” — Charles Gaines, finalist for National Book Award and NYT bestselling author of over 20 books
“Funny, inspiring, and timely, Stifled Laughter is an emotional roller-coaster ride through the classrooms, community meetings, and courthouses that serve as the battleground for censorship. Hooray for Claudia Johnson, she’s an American hero!” — Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy
“Claudia Johnson demonstrates in lively fashion how censorship is deeply undemocratic and dangerous. She makes clear that one simply cannot ban ideas.” — Laura Pederson, bestselling author and James Thurber Award finalist
“Painfully relevant in light of recent assaults on young people’s right to read, Stifled Laughter brings wisdom, intelligence, and humor to the fight against censorship in schools and beyond. — Ashley Hope Perez, Author of Out of Darkness
“Her lively story captures the claustrophobic know-nothing spirit of the book burners.” – Publishers Weekly
“She writes of the legal as well as personal trials she endured in her struggle to preserve the right of free speech in her community. Her court battles were unsuccessful, yet the experience of her five-year ordeal is edifying.” – Library Journal
“Claudia Johnson’s true story of her battle against book banners has the drama, humor, and poignancy of a good novel. Johnson is one of those truly inspiring small-town American heroes who, sometimes at great personal cost, keeps intellectual freedom alive.” – Marjorie Heins, director and staff counsel at the Arts Censorship Project, American Civil Liberties Union
“Claudia Johnson is a wonderful writer, and her account of book censorship in a small Florida town should stand as a warning to us all. Stifled Laughter should be required reading for everyone who cares about education and free speech. She has told a local story with national implications.” – Nicolaus Mills, author of Like a Holy Crusade: Mississippi 1964
"If this weren't about such a serious, freedom-threatening subject, Claudia Johnson's book would be funny. It's hard to realize there are so many individuals who feel threatened by books. And what makes it worse is that many times, the person complaining has not read the book . . . Her book shows only too clearly how far censorship has penetrated our lives and how even a few extremists can endanger our freedoms." — Bacons
"Johnson's account is so personally honest, its tone so crisp, its movement so energetic, you’ll quickly feel you know Johnson, her husband . . . the children . . . and you’ll envy their courage." — Q Magazine
"Wry, wrenching, and gripping all at once." — Wilson Library Bulletin
"Stifled Laughter is a wonderful read." — St. Petersburg Times
"Stifled Laughter is a deeply personal, wry, funny, intelligent account of how a woman decided to stand up for freedom of expression." — Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Johnson . . . writes of the legal as well as personal trials she endured in her struggle to preserve the right of free speech in her community . . . the experience of her five-year ordeal is edifying.” — Library Journal
“This is a true story that reads like a novel.” — Orlando Sentinel
“Stifled Laughter is funny and delightful. . . . the book provides an honest and sensitive account of how such a protracted legal battle can test a marriage." — Florida Times Union
“Claudia Johnson is a dynamic fighter for literary classics and free speech.” — Tallahassee Democrat
"A good title for discussions of censorship, activism, and years of personal sacrifice for the sake of a cause.” — School Library Journal
“Fulcrum has done the book industry and all lovers of the First Amendment a real service in publishing Stifled Laughter." — Free Expression: A Quarterly for the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression