Threats against libraries are likely to increase in part because the right-wing religious intolerance and political nihilism that is driving recent book bans mirror those of the past. Whether those threats materialize into actual violence is a question mark, but the outlook is forbidding, given this week’s bomb threats at Harold Washington Library Center and facilities in surrounding suburbs.
Books themselves offer insights regarding the consequences of book bans. And what better book on these topics than “Fahrenheit 451,” a dystopian novel published in 1953 by Waukegan-born author Ray Bradbury?
