It’s rare to review a novel as disquietingly relevant to our current problems as Censored Angel by Joan Koster. The central figure, Ida Craddock, was a writer, proponent of birth control, and mystic. Her opposition to Anthony Comstock, a postal inspector from 1873 to 1907, who used his position to prosecute anyone who published, advertised or sent through the mail anything he considered obscene, is the central theme of Koster's well-researched novel.
A religious zealot, he censored any mention of abortion, birth control, prostitution, gambling, free love, prevention of venereal disease, and gambling, among others. He was responsible for some 4,000 arrests and proud of having caused fifteen people to kill themselves by his persecution.
Ida Craddock was forceful, brilliant, well-educated, and odd. It’s hard not to think of her as a 19th century Joan of Arc. Needless to say, she and Comstock were natural enemies. Censored Angel is a fascinating read that should alarm all of us in the current drive by Comstock’s modern-day heirs to censor anything they disapprove of and remove books from libraries.
The last of the Comstock Laws was not repealed until 1971. Think about that as you read this book.
