PERSPECTIVErnTrollopes in the Stacksrnby Thomas FlemingrnNineteen ninety-two, if not quite an annus mirabilis, was arnyear “crowded with incident,” as Lady Bracknell wouldrnsay. The repercussions of Gorbachev’s fall, the hot war inrnBosnia that took the self-congratulatory edge out of the end ofrnthe Cold War, and the rise to power of Flem Snopes’ grandsonrnilluminated American television sets during the dinner newsrnhour.rnFor most of us, these incidents touched our lives, if at all, forrnonly a few moments a day. They took place somewhere inrnthe fairyland of images where heroes and antediluvian monstersrnstill do battle for the principle of one man/one vote.rnMost Americans seemed more interested in the goings-on ofrnthe white-trash British royalty that get paid handsomely forrnmisbehaving. In America, where we used to be, according tornFisher Ames, “too poor and too proud to acknowledge a king,”rnour own version of royalty was making even better money,rnposing for naughty pictures. People who had never been to arnbookstore before were standing in line to buy their own copy ofrnMadonna’s Sex. Some could not wait to get out of the storernwith their treasure and began tearing off the plastic wrap thatrnsealed the contents against dampness, dirt, and free ridersrnwho wanted to look without buying.rnAmerica may be taking its time about coming out of a recession,rnbut we still have more money than sense. Some feltrncheated of the 50 dollars they paid. Pornography connoisseursrnexpressed disappointment with the all-too-predietablernpermutations of body parts, accessories, and animal acts. It isrnhard to shock us any more, and Sex represented a breakthroughrnonly in the sense that the Clarence Thomas hearings were arnbreakthrough. The filth that used to be confined to the wrongrnside of town or the Playboy Channel can now appear on CNNrnand on the CBS Evening News, in Waldenbooks and in librariesrnstarted with grants from Andrew Carnegie.rnEven Christian Americans are jaded, and the sale of a bookrnportraying group sex and bestiality stirred little controversy. Libraries,rnhowever, are civic institutions that are generallyrnthought to reflect the values of the community. I do notrnknow how many public libraries decided to purchase Sex.rnHere in Rockford, the director of the public library stirred uprnthe predictable controversy by making the predictable decisionrnto buy the book. The library received about 20 requests, offsetrnby 400 letters in opposition. By the rules of American democracy,rnthe ayes have it, even when they are outvoted 20 to one,rnso long as the ayes represent fashionable opinion.rnThere was a public hearing at which various people pointedrnout that the book was pornographic, offended local standards,rnand possessed no redeeming social value. No one, in fact,rndefended the book on its merits, but the head of the libraryrn(and his supporters) insisted it was a free speech/free press issue,rneven though what was at stake was not the right to publishrnor distribute or look at (somehow “read” is not the right verb)rnthe book. The only significant question concerned the properrnuse of taxpayers’ funds. Some sort of compromise wasrnreached—they bought the book but promised to restrictrnaccess—but the controversy illustrates certain features ofrnthe cultural battle that is being waged at the end of thernmillennium.rnPut aside any consideration of the First Amendment, whichrnwas never meant to apply to local matters, and bracket, forrnthe moment, the question of the book’s merits or demerits,rnbecause the same tired arguments are used everywhere in thernbattle of the books that is being waged in libraries across therncountry as concerned citizens debate the appropriateness ofrnteenage sex manuals or the use of the word “nigger” in HuckleberryrnFinn. Both sides in these debates see the library as arnpowerful instrument that can be used for public enlightenmentrnor abused for moral corruption. The outcome of thesernbattles, so it is believed, determines which side will stamp itsrnimage on the community. Will this nation be a ChristianrnAmerica, whose reading is limited to Heidi, Pollyanna, andrnthe confessions of Pat Boone, or will it be the open societyrnthat reads Justine, Tropic of Cancer, and Last Exit to Brooklyn?rn12/CHRONICLESrnrnrn