Dystopian, haunting, and filled with political commentary, Margaret Atwood's 1985 work of speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale, has be subject to controversy and commentary since its publication 41 years ago. So much so that Goodreads listed it among the "Best Banned or Challenged" books.
From 1990 to 2000, The Handmaid's Tale was in the top 40 of the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books" according to the American Library Association. However as early as 2019 the book was still in the top ten of the most frequently banned or censored stories given the violence, sexuality, and "vulgar nature" of the novel. In the United States, The Handmaid's Tale has been banned in libraries in schools in Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Virginia, Missouri, and Utah. In the Spring of 2026, the state of Utah completely banned the book from all public schools citing "objective sensitive material" as a reason.
Despite the frequency at which the work is challenged and the mature themes, The Handmaid's Tale remains consistently a part of AP Literature courses across the country. Atwood was subjected to censored education of her own in the 1950s, but has stated that this combined with the banning of her own work has never altered or impacted what she chooses to focus on in her writing.
In part as commentary on the banning of The Handmaid's Tale and other works, in 2022 Atwood and Penguin Random House worked together on an "un-burnable" copy of the book as a demonstration against book banning. Penguin Random House said, “Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was made to be completely un-burnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship.” The piece sold for $130,000 at auction.
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The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian story following Offred, a woman who is attempting to survive in the Republic of Gilead, a fictitious theocratic regime that overthrew the U.S. government. In Gilead, women are ranked as one of the lowest classes and cannot own property, read, or write. Offred and other fertile women like her are considered valuable due to environmental crises and plummeting birth rates, and are subsequently enslaved as "Handmaids" and assigned to high-ranking, powerful men to bear children.
Many critics consider The Handmaid's Tale to be Atwood's best piece of work, and the novel that truly cemented her as one of the greats of the 20th century. The novel was nominated for a Booker, a Nebula Award, and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for fiction. In 2017, the novel was adapted for TV on Hulu, and the series went on to be critically acclaimed.
While The Handmaid's Tale is not a book one reads expecting something light and easy, its important themes and commentary have made it a staple, despite the frequent attempts to make it the opposite.
Related: 7 Books To Read After When You Need Something More Like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale'
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