Book banning in the United States (2021–present)

Starting in 2021, there have been thousands of books banned or challenged in parts of the United States. Most of the targeted books have to do with race, gender, and sexuality. Unlike most book challenges in the past, whereby action began locally with parents or other stakeholders in the community engaging teachers and school administrators in a debate over a title, local parent groups have received support from conservative advocacy organizations working to nationalize the efforts focused on certain subjects. They have also been more likely to involve legal and legislative measures rather than just conversations in local communities. Journalists, academics, librarians, and others commonly link the coordinated, often well-funded book challenges to other efforts to restrict what students should learn about systemic bias and the history of the United States. Hundreds of books have been challenged, including high-profile examples like Maus by Art Spiegelman, New Kid by Jerry Craft, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The American Library Association documented 1,269 demands of book censorship in 2022. It was the highest the organization had ever recorded since it began collecting censorship data more than 20 years prior. A 2023 analysis by The Washington Post found that a majority of book challenges in over 100 school districts from the 2021–2022 school year were filed by just 11 people.

2023 was even higher, with 4,240 different book titles challenged nationwide, as part of 1,247 reported requests filed against books, and other library resources, such as educational research databases. This represented an 11% increase in titles targeted at school libraries, and a 92% increase in the number of titles targeted at public libraries, compared to 2022.

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom released preliminary data for 2024, stating, "Between January 1 and August 31, 2024, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 414 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. In the same reporting period last year, ALA tracked 695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged. Though the number of reports to date has declined in 2024, the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020."

According to a survey by PEN America, about 10,000 books were banned from US schools under Republican-led censorship laws in the 2023/2024 academic year, nearly tripling the number for the previous academic year. Many of the book titles targeted dealt with BIPOC and LGBTQ issues. The book bans are largely the result of laws passed in Republican-led states. On January 24, 2025, the Trump Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed 11 cases regarding challenged books in schools and eliminated an oversight position for investigating such issues. They then issued a press release stating that they had ended what they referred to as "Biden's Book Ban Hoax".

Free speech advocates, academics, journalists, and other critics have characterized the escalation in book banning campaigns as part of a larger effort at local and state levels to impose an ideologically skewed vision of the United States, its history, and its culture. In response to challenges, book banning laws such as Arkansas Act 372 have been struck down in court as unconstitutional.