Lost Books: Original Czech Fiction Books at Various Stage of the Production or Distribution Censored on Ideological Grounds during the 1960s and 1970s

The topic of this thesis borders librarianship, archival science and literary history - it is a synthesis of several interests and views of the subject. Censorship was a powerful regime tool in the ČSR or the ČSSR and many writers were prevented of publishing any of their work. The thesis deals not only with books, which have been labeled in dictionaries as destroyed despite of their existence. It describes how the turning point between the 1960s and 1970s was manifested in libraries, book shops and secondhand bookstores; what the publishing practice of that time was like, or how the contemporaries that worked in the industry comment on the mentioned time period. Furthermore, the thesis explains what happened to the books that had been banned overnight, what the Editorial Board's practice was like, and finally, what working with banned books involved. A part of the thesis consists of outlining the political background including presentation of the list of books that were not allowed to be published, had to be withdrawn, or the whole edition "dissapeared". How many of such books can readers today actually hold in their hands? The described books (and thousands more) had been locked in libraries' bookcases; special divisions managing the entire organisation had been created; and departments with restricted..