2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)

The gist: Steinbeck’s Pullitzer Prize winning novel, released in 1939, told the all too familiar story of the effects of the Great Depression on the rural poor. Focusing on a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agriculture industry. With nowhere left to turn, they set out for California along with thousands of other "Okies" in search of land, jobs and dignity.

Why was it banned? Despite the book being championed by the literary elite, it was publicly banned in the US and burned en masse by the general population. People were shocked by its description of the poor, which Steinbeck later admitted was a sanitised version of what was really going on in these remote communities.

4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

The gist: Billy Pilgrim, a disoriented, and ill-trained American soldier, is captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and taken prisoner in Dresden. Housed in a disused slaughterhouse, known as "Slaughterhouse number 5", he and the other POWs and German guards alike hide in a deep cellar; sheltering from the firestorm during the Bombing of Dresden in World War II. During this period, time begins to warp, and Pilgrim starts to see visions of the future and the past, including his death.

Why was it banned? The good old USA thought better than to let its children be exposed to such themes, residing it to the ranks of the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged books.

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky (1999)

The gist: Inspired by the late J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the book, published in 1999, tells the story of a teenager, “Charlie” who writes a series of letters to an anonymous friend. Being a teenager, Charlie goes to great lengths to describe his introversion, teenage sexuality, abuse, and his drug use.

Why was it banned? Its explicit sexual content, particularly the homosexual aspects, has led it to be withdrawn from libraries across the US, and it regularly makes the American Library Association's top 10 most challenged books list.

8. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis (1991)

The gist: Easton Ellis’s tale of serial killer and impeccable business man Patrick Bateman, starts off as merely the retelling of one man’s experiences living in an affluent part of New York city during the 1980s. As the book progresses however, the shiny veneer of Yuppie life soon reveals a far more sinister side.

Why is it banned? Anyone who has seen the film will know why. Germany deemed it harmful to minors when it first appeared in 1991, and restricted its sales. It was banned in Canada until very recently, and it’s banned in the Australian state of Queensland and is restricted to over 18s only in all other states.

10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

The gist: Humbert Humbert, a scholar born in Paris, is obsessed with young women, or “nymphets” as he calls them. Moving to a small New England town, he comes obsessed with the 12-year-old daughter of Charlotte Haze, and secretly covets her, using his marriage to his mother as a ruse. Humbert and the girl abscond and begin hopping from town to town trying to conceal their true relationship.

Why was it banned? After being called 'the filthiest book I have ever read' by the editor of the Sunday Express, the Home Office seized all copies of the book in 1955 on the grounds that it was pornography. The French banned it the following year, but curiously, it was published without issue in the USA.

11. Trapped in a Masonic World (2011)

The gist:  David McCann's - new to the list, and unlike the others which are books of fiction, Trapped in a Masonic Worldis based on facts.  This is truly believed to be a most thought-provoking book, that’s quite possible to be ranked as one of the most controversial and disturbing books ever to be written, bearing in mind it all based on the truth and not a case of fiction.  The book itself carries a “Warning 18’s Only” message on the inside page, as the book contains numerous expletives, derogatory terms and insults, aimed at many groups, organisations. The author says; “Don’t try and judge the book by its cover, or should I say the title, - as some already have and therefore have assumed there is some kind of undercurrent racist agenda here within its contents, when in fact you’ll see it’s quite the opposite”.  And it’s thought this is one of the misunderstandings about the book that has made publishing houses steer well clear from this book.

It appears to be attacking various members of secret societies, such as the Freemason’s, and people with fanatical religious beliefs, and what the author alleges to be corrupt world leaders, politicians, policeman, civil servants, the military, public service workers and in fact anyone who so happens to be in a position of power including the church and other religions in general, written by an “agnostic borderline atheist”, whom he accuses that almost virtually all of the said groups are also members of secret societies and that he has been able to prove that we certainly do appear to be; Trapped in a Masonic World.  Here’s an extract; “...in where the initiate Freemason takes a series of blood-oaths and promises not to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry that he [or she] will then learn: – “Upon having his throat cut from ear to ear” if he dares to reveal the secrets.  Blood-oaths such as this, - are sworn upon entering the fraternity, the higher the degree, the more gruesome the oath can be.  So it’s after swearing these such oaths and making such pledges that these sorts do, - they then, in turn, become appointed; “Common Purpose” kind of people and part of the internal structure of our local governments in general, - and it is via the management, leadership and control of our villages, towns and cities, - whose job it is, - is to watch the backs of their fellow brothers, - which isn’t the likes of you or me, but the brothers of the “Masonic brotherhood”, or sisters of the sororities and madams of the “Eastern Star” who have all been carefully chosen and strategically placed to assist one another, - though more importantly is to help their superiors up the rungs of “Jacobs Ladder”, whilst making sure the rest of us non-fraternalites keep stepping on the heads of all those snakes they’ve deliberately and precariously positioned all around us, - so whenever you might have thought you almost made it to where you wanted to be in life, - then oops, - there you go again and helter-skelter all the way down and back to square one in life again”.

Why was it banned? Technically publishing agents regard the contents as a ‘libellous minefield’, and wouldn’t risk investment into such unknown territory.  Though the author claims it’s more likely the majority of whom he is attacking, hold too much sway and influence over such media.  So much so is the “ban”, it’s never yet been published in hardback, though can be freely read in its present format as an eBook.  The mammoth undertaking by the author took in excess of 3 years to write and compile the 360,000 words plus book, on a whole array of topical subjects that all seemed to be connected and entwined with the world of secret societies involving the most powerful people and institutions in the world. - 'Warning Over 18yrs Only'.