This paper discusses J.D. Salinger and why he is a respected but misunderstood American author of the twentieth century. . It is only fitting then, that his novel, "The Catcher in the Rye", is one of the most loved and most controversial books of the past fifty years. Atop the list of reasons for the book's controversy are those concerning its language and the moral decay it is believed to inspire. As a result, "The Catcher in the Rye" has, over the years, been censored time and again (even by it's own publisher), and placed on numerous "banned book" lists at libraries, and various institutions of learning all over the country. It would be pleasingly simple to chalk this censorship up to the dated values of 1950's America and the "Cold War hysteria" of the period, but this is not the case.
