Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is a graphic novel about the Holocaust. McMinn County School District is a school district headquartered in Athens, Tennessee.MacMinn decided they did not like Maus and banned it.

MacMinn claimed the ban was due to profanities (swearing) used in Maus. However, there have been many loud suggestions that the ban was an attempt to prevent children from learning about World War II and the Holocaust.

Art Spiegelman reportedly told reporters that the ban “has the breath of autocracy and fascism”.

Whatever McMinn County School District intended, the ban of Maus raised awareness of the book. It also seems to have motivated people to rush out and buy a copy. Maus has, I understand, been selling out everywhere. Unsurprisingly, Maus has hit top sellers lists.

Author Niel Gaiman was scathing of the ban tweeting, “There’s only one kind of people that would vote to ban Maus, whatever they are calling themselves these days.”

You can get the collected volumes of Maus – The Complete MAUS, English edition from, among other places, Amazon.