THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood

Publisher: Anchor Books

Copyright: 1985, 

Format: Paperback

Printing: 1998 Printing

Summary: The book is a dystopian novel set in a fictional theocracy called Gilead, in which women are denied education and income and forced to serve as handmaids to bear children. It follows the story of a Handmaid named Offred as she secretly fights to reclaim her own family. An award-winning piece of literature in its own time, it has become famous all over again from the streaming Hulu series and  as a symbol of reproductive oppression in an era of declining reproductive rights in America. I sincerely hope I don’t need to change the genre to historical fiction.

The Handmaid’s Tale is among the most challenged books in the U.S. The American Library Association has documented at least 160 organized attempts to censor it from U.S. schools and libraries, many of them successful, primarily on the basis of ‘profanity’, ‘obscenity’, reproductive health content, and LGBTQIA+ representation. It has been specifically targeted for censorship on partisan websites.

Condition:  VG (Very Good.) Typical shelf wear to covers with some rubbing and creasing. No chips or tears. Classic cover artwork is clean and vibrant. Binding is fairly tight, it's been read but fully intact. There's a stamp on the inside front cover from my local middle school, which thankfully has been strong against efforts to remove challenged titles from our school libraries. Inside pages are lightly tanned but clean with no markings.

🕮 Resistance Through Reading!

I'm a fierce advocate of the right to read. I believe reading is an essential way that people of all ages learn about ideas, identities, and experiences both similar and different from their own, and that we must resist any attempts at censorship. 10% of your purchase from my Banned, Challenged, & Censored category is donated to the Freedom to Read Foundation to support their ongoing work against censorship in association with the American Library Association.