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Here are some other banned books that share similar themes as to the ones we can find in the novel. For example, Little Red Riding Hood was banned in two California districts because she was carrying wine in her basket, alluding to alcohol usage.

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The following books may seem quite harmless to most, but they still made it onto a banned books list.

6. "Little Red Riding Hood," by Charles Perrault

The fairy tale of a little girl who is led astray by a wolf while on the way to her grandmother's house was banned by two California school districts because one of the refreshments for her grandmother that Little Red Riding Hood carried in her basket was wine.

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The following books may seem quite harmless to most, but they still made it onto a banned books list. The fairy tale of a little girl who is led astray by a wolf while on the way to her grandmother's house was banned by two California school districts because one of the refreshments for her grandmother that Little Red Riding Hood carried in her basket was wine.

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Since rape and sexual assault is a big part of the book, I found an article talking about campus rape in the 50s, which gives an idea as to how society was as well.

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A few years back, columnist David Brooks (who will, as it happens, be the commencement speaker at Brandeis University this year) wrote a piece about campus rape in which he suggested that the best approach to preventing such incidents was the approach that colleges took prior to the sexual revolution.

Back in the good old days, Brooks wrote,

educators ... understood that when you concentrate young men, they have a tropism toward barbarism. That's why these educators cared less about academics than about instilling a formula for character building. The formula, then called chivalry, consisted first of manners, habits and self-imposed restraints to prevent the downward slide.

There's a lot to object to in this, starting with the suggestion that all men have the impulse to rape, and that the best of us are merely taught to restrain it. But there's one bit that I'd like to address as a historian of American higher education.

As it happens, I recently acquired a copy of the Berry College Handbook for Women, published by the college's women's student government in 1956. Berry was (and is) a co-ed private college in rural Georgia, exactly the kind of place that you'd expect to find Brooks' "formula for character building" in action.

And what does that handbook say about dating? It says this:

DATES - Girls may have dates on Sunday afternoons from 2:45 to 5:00 PM, at parties, movies, and other social events and also at the college store between classes. When girls are coming from the college campus, boys do not escort them farther than the 'parting of the ways' which is on the road between the Recitation Hall and Mother's Building. There must be no dating in out of the way places. Petting is not permitted.

Self-imposed restraints? Hardly. This was a world of strict gender segregation. At Berry College in the fifties, male and female students weren't permitted to be alone together. Ever.

On today's campus, students are given near-total freedom to socialize in private. That freedom is grounded in the belief that college students have sufficient character to use that freedom responsibly. It is also grounded in the belief that people best learn how to regulate their behavior when they are given the opportunity to regulate their behavior.

On the typical American campus of the fifties, students were not taught self-restraint - they were restrained, and they were punished when they were caught circumventing those restraints. If they learned anything about how to behave behind closed doors, it was at great risk, and in defiance of the mechanisms employed to keep them apart. If a female student at Berry College in 1956 consented to be alone with a guy in circumstances that made sex possible, she was in violation of school rules. She was in danger of expulsion. Every man on campus knew this, and that knowledge gave the worst of them great power.

If a woman was treated badly in such circumstances - if she was raped, if she was coerced, if she was abused, if she was humiliated - she was vanishingly unlikely to speak out. And there wasn't even any way to have an open discussion about what it meant to be "treated badly" - the campus rules permitted no public dialogue about sexual ethics, no opportunity to arrive at communal understanding about how to behave and how to expect your partner to behave, no space in which to forthrightly compare expectations and experiences.

This world that Brooks pines for is a world of stifling rules and unequal punishments. It's a world of shame and exploitation. It's a world of ignorance and silence.

It is a world that generations of students heroically fought to be freed from.

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Chivalry and Rape on the American Campus of the 1950s

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A few years back, columnist David Brooks (who will, as it happens, be the commencement speaker at Brandeis University this year) wrote a piece about campus rape in which he suggested that the best approach to preventing such incidents was the approach that colleges took prior to the sexual revolution.

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If the novel, Where Triples Go to Die, was written in 1950, would it have been banned?

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I found a fun little interview with Phil Hutcheon where he explains how he wrote a new novel and some of the thought processes going into it.

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A: Well if you're fishing for something kinky, it's not that. It's not an abnormal relationship between people. It's unlikely I think simply from the standpoint that this young African American male is not somebody who would have been likely to see a middle-aged white person as someone who he would call a friend. And it probably works the other way as well.
Q: In teaching, have you been in a similar situation as the professor in your novel?
A: When I was teaching at a four-year college previously, there were a couple of student athletes who were recruited - one for football and one for basketball, who were in my remedial English classes. I discovered that they could not read. Here they were, being asked to complete college level assignments and they literally couldn't read or understand the material in their books. I think that this is a problem that is actually more widespread than a lot of people realize. Colleges and universities, especially, recruit athletes so that their teams will win games and earn lots of money for the university, but they're not really paying attention to what the students are learning in the classroom.
Q: What are some of the steps you took to help these students?
A: I think the first step you take is to confront them about the situation. In a lot of cases, they have gotten away with it by cheating off other students. Or, they've gotten away with it by having other people write their papers, and that's very common.

Another of the sources for the novel was a friendship that I had with a coach, a very famous basketball coach, and when he retired ... he told me students would just go to the athletic department and the secretary would have their papers written for them. And in some cases, he told me some students were too lazy to even walk over to the secretary's office and get their papers to turn in. One time the assignment was even dumbed down below that. They were asked to cut pictures out of a newspaper and turn those in for their assignment. And so the athletic department secretary dutifully cut the pictures out for them, had them ready for them. That's the extreme end of the scale. Part of what I'm trying to do in part of the book is expose that and to make people aware of the lack of integrity that goes on in university athletic programs and that people like university presidents are condoning it by letting it go on.
Q: When you were writing this book, did you find yourself talking to the characters? Did they become real to you or were they like people you already know?
A: I think your characters are kind of an amalgam of people that you know, but you always add things to them. If you're writing fiction, you don't wind up writing something that's just based on people that you know. You're always making things up. And then what happens in the process is the character ends up taking on a life of his own.
Q: Is there a character you relate to more than others?
A: Well people are going to assume that the protagonist is based on me, and there are some similarities, but there are also a lot of differences.
Q: How long did you work on "Goliath"?
A: This one I have been working on sporadically for almost 20 years.
Q: Why, after 20 years, did it finally get published?
A: It's just a matter of persistence, you keep trying, keep sending it out to publishers until you find someone who's willing to read it.
Q: What was is like when you got the letter?
A: I did get a letter saying they wanted to publish it and after all the years of trying it was a very emotional moment ... I think I just let myself have a quiet inward celebration for a few minutes.
Q: Do you have any other novels in the works now?
A: I do have another idea that's based on college football. I'm especially concerned about the behavior that we're seeing and tolerating in some of the student athletes.
Q: What is it about sports that drives you in your writing?
A: Well, the influence of my dad, and I think also sports has played a tremendous role in creating equality in American society. For my generation, someone like Willie Mays was a tremendously important figure. Even though he wasn't a, quote, activist, in the civil right movement, he's the man that my generation grew up wanting to be. And you probably saw the same thing with Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Kids of a all different colors see these guys and they are the guys they want to be. That goes a long way toward breaking down the stereotypes.
Contact reporter Lauren Nelson at laurenn@lodinews.com.

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By Lauren NelsonNews-Sentinel feature writer

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Phil Hutcheon combines love of teaching, sports in new novel

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Phil Hutcheon is as passionate about his writing as he is about education. With the release of his first novel, "Nobody Roots for Goliath," the Delta College English professor is addressing wrong-doing in the state's education system, as well as crafting a literary work that is funny and emotional.

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I found an article written by TIME that talks about how domestic abuse that occurred back then is still happening now.

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50 Years Ago, Doctors Called Domestic Violence 'Therapy'

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In light of recent news about domestic violence, looking back at a 1964 study that extols its benefits

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We can see how alcohol affects our society in today's world, but it also had large effects on families in the 50s, which shaped the way future generations viewed alcohol.

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The baby boomer generation has struggled with addiction at alarming rates, and there are a handful of theories as to why this may be. Baby boomers were born after the Second World War. Their parents had made it through the great depression, a horrendous war and were becoming stable and secure in their newly established middle class lifestyle.

Enter the introduction of the television, complete with TV shows that showed idealized interpretations of the American family. Much in the way reality television now is thought to provide a glimpse into peopleâ€™s lives and shape how the viewer behaves, thinks of themselves, and interprets those around them, the classic 1950 sitcom was watched with an unmistakable assumption of truth.

The families in these television shows were always happy. There was no confrontation or arguing, kids only found themselves in minor scrapes and the Mom and Dad loved each other and it showed through a sense of coziness that was never outright sexual. You can see these visions of perfection yourself by watching reruns of shows like â€œLeave it to Beaverâ€ and â€œFather knows Best.â€

The trouble with these television shows is that they arenâ€™t trueâ€"and they never were. Even in the idealized 1950s and 1960s, families had their drama. There were arguments, depression and losses that no one in the family knew how to cope with. In the face of this internalized reality that came from the television set, no-one knew it was okay to let that out. Emotions became bottled up, and often only let out through some sort of bottle when one was alone. Alcoholism and abuse grew during this time period, but all behind closed doors.

As the children of these families came of age, they began to realize that life was not the perfect scenario their parents had painted for them. But unfortunately, this generation was not provided with the tools to recognize or cope with that reality. This resulted in a growing group of young adults who were restless, unhappy and frustratedâ€"and they were looking for a way to cope with those feelings in as quick of a fix as possible.

Attempting to live up to a certain image requires you to deny your true self, and this generally leads to shame and frustration. A generation of children grew up angry at the denial of their true selves, yet still felt alienated from their feelings. Unable to communicate their emotions or effectively deal with their feelings, they searched for methods to escape. All of these traits contributed to making the developing baby boomer generation highly susceptible to the throws of addiction and addictive behaviors.

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Family Ideals in the 1950s: The Shaping of Addiction How hiding alcoholism and abuse from the home in the 1950s helped to shape the onset of addictive behavior in children. - Compass Health Group

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The baby boomer generation has struggled with addiction at alarming rates, and there are a handful of theories as to why this may be. Baby boomers were born after the Second World War. Their parents had made it through the great depression, a horrendous war and were becoming stable and secure in their newly established [...]

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Alcohol was a central theme in the novel, as it caused many problems. Below, I linked an article that explains how alcohol affects people's lives.

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Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among U.S. adults. Alcohol use is associated with a wide range of health risks and other problems for individuals. But the costs of alcohol don't just affect the person drinking.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive alcohol use costs the U.S. almost a quarter trillion dollars a year. Economic costs are one part of the toll, but there are also other societal issues that are tied to alcohol use.

At a Glance

The real-world impact of alcohol abuse reaches far beyond the financial costs. When a loved one has a problem with alcohol, it can affect their marriage and their extended family. There's also a larger impact on the community, schools, the workplace, the healthcare system, and society as a whole.

How Alcohol Affects Society

Alcohol use can affect society in terms of:

Economic costs linked to increased healthcare expenses, lost productivity, and legal costs

Health consequences caused by health problems caused by alcohol as well as accidents, injuries, and violence connected to alcohol use

Legal consequences, including increased crime, drunk driving accidents, and other issues related to law enforcement and criminal justice

Family effects, including child abuse, neglect, intimate partner violence, and substance use problems in children

Educational costs associated with worse academic performance and achievement

Such costs are often linked to those who have alcohol use disorders. According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 29.5 million people over the age of 12 (10.6% of the population) had an alcohol use disorder in the past year. Estimates suggest that approximately 13.9% of people in the United States will meet the criteria for severe alcohol use disorder in their lifetimes.

However, it's not necessarily people with alcohol addiction having the biggest impact on these figures. It's estimated that 77% of the cost of excessive alcohol consumption in the U.S. is due to binge drinking, and most binge drinkers are not alcohol dependent.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that 140,000 people die each year due to alcohol-related causes. Alcohol is the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the U.S.

Financial Costs of Alcoholism

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the cost of excessive alcohol use in the U.S. alone reaches $249 billion annually. Around 77% of that is attributed to binge drinking, defined as four or more alcoholic beverages per occasion for women or five or more drinks per occasion for men.

The CDC estimates that 40% of the cost of binge drinking is paid by federal, state, and local governments.

The CDC suggests that the most significant economic costs of alcohol use are due to the following:

Lost workplace productivity (72% of the total cost)

Healthcare expenses (11% of the total cost)

Criminal justice expenses (10% of the total cost)

Motor vehicle crash expenses (5% of the total cost)

The CDC estimates that these figures are all underestimated because alcohol's involvement in sickness, injury, and death is not always available or reported. These figures also do not include some medical and mental health conditions that are the result of alcohol abuse.

Also not included in these figures are the work days that family members miss due to the alcohol problems of a loved one.

Healthcare Expense of Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol consumption is a risk factor in numerous chronic diseases and conditions, and alcohol plays a significant role in certain cancers, psychiatric conditions, and numerous cardiovascular and digestive diseases. Additionally, alcohol consumption can increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.

An estimated $28 billion is spent each year on alcohol-related health care.

Alcohol-Related Aggression and Violence

Along with unintentional injury, alcohol plays a significant role in intentional injuries as a result of aggression and violence. Alcohol has been linked to physical violence by a variety of research studies.

On top of the healthcare cost of alcohol-related intentional violence in the United States, the estimated annual cost to the criminal justice system is another $25 billion.

Impact of Alcoholism on the Family

The social impact of alcohol abuse is a separate issue from the financial costs involved, and that impact begins in the home, extends into the community, and often affects society as a whole, much like the financial impact does.

Research on the effects of alcohol abuse on families shows that alcohol abuse and addiction play a role in intimate partner violence, cause families' financial problems, impair decision-making skills, and play a role in child neglect and abuse.

Long-term alcohol use leads to changes in the brain that affect decision-making, emotional processing, and self-control, making people who drink more susceptible to aggression and violence. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, alcohol makes intimate partner violence more frequent and severe.

As with the financial costs of alcohol abuse, studies have found occasional binge drinking can also affect families. Research suggests that the risk of intimate partner violence rises not only in the context of frequent drinking but also when a partner has consumed a large volume of drinks in one sitting.

Alcohol Abuse and Children

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are one of the most common direct consequences of parental alcohol use in the United States, caused by alcohol consumption by the mother during pregnancy. Children with FAS display various symptoms, many of which are lifelong and permanent.

Children who grow up in a home with a loved one dealing with alcohol addiction may be affected as well; they are at significant risk of developing alcohol use disorders themselves.

Growing up in a home where at least one parent has a severe alcohol use disorder can increase a child's chances of developing psychological and emotional problems.

The Bottom Line

Alcohol's effects go beyond it's effects on individual health and well-being; it also has steep economic and societal costs. The excess use of alcohol leads to billions in lost productivity and healthcare costs. It also has a heavy strain on families, communities, and society as a whole. Increased violence, injuries, accidents, child abuse, and intimate partner violence are all linked to alcohol use.

Additional Reading

Buddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.

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Alcohol takes a toll on individual health, but it also has serious effects on society. Learn more about alcohol's society costs, including it's economic impact.