Drake, North Dakota, English teacher Bruce Severly did not expect controversy to erupt when he added Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” to the reading list for his class. Most of the students were pleased with the addition, but one student complained about offensive language. That was enough for the school board to order the book removed from the classroom and to direct that all copies be destroyed.
As was usual at the time, the janitor disposed of trash in the school furnace. On this date in 1973, he did so with the books. The pages went up in flames. The citizens of Drake were completely unprepared for what happened next.
It’s unknown how the incident came to the attention of the national press. But when it did, the response was immediate. Drake was inundated with newspaper reporters. Correspondents from national news programs arrived. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a statement of protest. The town was accused of burning books in a move reminiscent of book burnings in Nazi Germany.
Among those offended was none other than author Kurt Vonnegut himself. Instead of going to the national press or appearing on talk shows, Vonnegut wrote a letter to Charles McCarthy, head of the school board, protesting the destruction of the books “in the now famous furnace of your school.” He said people would rush to buy copies of his book in protest but he was not celebrating the promise of increased sales. He said he had no plans to go on talk shows or do interviews on news programs. The letter, he wrote, was private, just between the two of them.
Vonnegut acknowledged that the school board had the right to determine what students could read, but he warned, “It is also true that if you exercise that right and fulfill that responsibility in an ignorant, harsh, un-American manner, then people are entitled to call you bad citizens and fools.”
Vonnegut hoped McCarthy would learn the lesson “that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them.”
McCarthy never answered Vonnegut’s letter. The controversy eventually died down, and life in the small town returned to normal. But even today, a search on the subject of book burning will bring up the name of Drake, North Dakota.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- New York Times. “Dakota Town Dumfounded at Criticism of Book Burning by Order of the School Board.” New York City NY. 11/16/1973. Page 27.
- History.Com. “Copies of “Slaughterhouse-Five” reported burned in North Dakota.” https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-10/slaughterhouse-five-is-burned-in-north-dakotaAccessed 10/4/2025.
- City Directory. “Drake, North Dakota.” https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-10/slaughterhouse-five-is-burned-in-north-dakotaAccessed 10/4/2025.
- Today in Civil Liberties History. “North Dakota School Burns Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.” https://todayinclh.com/?event=north-dakota-school-burns-vonneguts-slaughterhouse-fiveAccessed 10/4/2025.
- FSBlog. “Standing Up For Freedom.” https://fs.blog/kurt-vonneguts-letter-book-burning/Accessed 10/4/2024.
