A view over beautiful Florence, Italy

In my July newsletter I mentioned that after writing 2-4 blogs per month for years without a break, I had not written for well over a month.  That also included an 18-day vacation traveling through Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain.  My trip experience did now provide inspiration for a few blogs, including this first one, “Galileo, Forbidden Books and Modern Politics.”

Spending a day in Florence was inspiring, and aided by a wonderful book, “Florence – a Traveler’s Guide to Gems & Giants” by Patty Civalleri.  Not only did the book provide information on all the city’s sites, but also included mini-biographies of the many fabulous people who heralded from Florence.

One was the highly renowned scientist Galileo Galilei, most often simply referred to as Galileo.  He was one of the leading scientists believing in heliocentrism, that all our solar system planets revolved around the sun instead of the accepted belief that everything revolved around our earth. His “far-fetched” ideas brought him under the scrutiny of the Roman Catholic tribunal, that tried him and required him to confess his sins.  In addition, his books were placed on the “List of Forbidden Books.”

Ponte Vechhio, built in 1345, the most photographed bridge in the world.

That was almost 500 years ago, and now what is happening today in American politics?  The same thing!  Self-appointed keepers of morality much like the church tribunals of 500 years ago are determining what books are evil and should be kept away from schools and libraries.  Certain factions are deciding on behalf of all people that our society needs to be protected from books about our nation’s history of racism or discussing various aspects of sexuality.

Two years ago, I published a blog reviewing some of the recently banned books by school districts, “These Banned Books Are Delightful” and a follow on, “Another delightful and insightful banned book – Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.” Several years ago, one of the best teachers in Orange County, North Carolina was run out of town since he dared to read a book about a prince marrying another prince to his class.  (Read my blog about this.)

Galileo died a sad and lonely death at his home in Florence, and the city of Florence has always regretted the bad treatment of Galileo and has made efforts to keep his memory alive.  So is history now repeating itself here in the USA?  I do hope that in the future, our nation regrets letting small minds dictate what our population may and may not read.