While we tend to think of book bans in terms of towering infernos, the reality—as with most evil—is actually quite banal. Then we’re going to talk about why book bans are a thing, and why preventing them is so important. A “book ban” is exactly what it sounds like—the banning of a book by the government—right? But in the U.S., at least, national bans are rare, and local book bans are far more common. That counterintuitive popularity boost is typical for American book bans right up to the present day.