9. Howl - Allen Ginsberg (1955)
Howl is a poem by Allen Ginsberg which was published in an anthology in 1956 called Howl and Other Poems. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest American works of fiction. The poem is quite hallucinatory and has drug references, but what the authorities really balked at were the sexual parts with frank homosexuality. In particular the line: "Who let themselves be f**ked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy" That one line was enough for the Customs to seize over 500 copies of the book that were published in London. A bookshop proprietor Shig Murao was arrested and prosecuted for selling a copy to an undercover police man in San Francisco. The publishing company who printed the book under the guidance of boss Lawrence Ferlinghetti, were surprised to see their chief arrested. At his trial there were nine literary sources willing to back up the worthiness of the poem. With heavy support from the ACLU, Ferlinghetti won the case. The case made headlines and a film called Howl from 2010, portrays the facts of the case. As a side note, the Finnish authorities got their knickers in a twist over the broadcast of Howl on Finnish radio in 1969. Homosexuality was still illegal in Finland at that time and the radio station got a slap on the wrist for being so bold and provocative.