Little Red Schoolbook Censorship Storm

In 1969, two Danish schoolteachers, along with a psychologist, published The Little Red Schoolbook in Denmark as a blunt guide for schoolchildren on how to question authority and navigate school life. Out of roughly 200 pages, it devoted about 20 pages to sex and 30 pages to drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, alongside sections on teachers, discipline, exams, and how adults used power. The book spread quickly and got read far beyond Denmark because publishers translated it into many languages in the early 1970s, which also triggered bans and prosecutions in multiple countries. In the United Kingdom, authorities prosecuted the publisher under obscenity law, and the case ultimately reached the European Court of Human Rights.

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