City Lights Bookstore controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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1957
Howl obscenity prosecution
After City Lights published Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems, authorities seized copies and prosecuted Lawrence Ferlinghetti for publishing allegedly obscene material. Expert testimony supported the poem's literary value, and the court acquitted Ferlinghetti. The case is generally regarded as a significant defense of literary freedom.