LibertyCon 38

Books They Don’t Want You to Read (and Why You Should - Once upon a time, adventure was adventurous, heroes were heroic, and villains twirled their mustaches without filing an apology afterward. Then the Culture Police showed up with red pens and trigger warnings. From Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu to Burroughs’ jungle lords, Lovecraft’s eldritch horrors, Fleming’s secret agents, and Dahl’s delightfully awful children — the list of “problematic” authors keeps growing faster than you can say “revised edition.” In this irreverent (but informed) panel, we’ll dive into the pulp, passion, and peril of reading what modern gatekeepers want scrubbed from memory. Why were these books loved in their time? What do they still get right about storytelling, adventure, and imagination? And why is it that the books people warn you not to read are usually the most fun ones? Bring your sense of humor, your contrarian streak, and maybe a brown paper dust jacket — because we’re going there.