In which Washington city were high schools briefly banned from teaching The Catcher in the Rye in 1978? The answer is Issaquah.
The controversy occurred in Issaquah, Washington, where three school-board members claimed J. D. Salinger’s novel was part of an “overall communist plot.” Their action made the episode an especially unusual chapter in the book’s long censorship history.
The ban was short-lived. The board members were recalled and removed in a special election, and the restriction did not become a lasting school policy. That detail distinguishes Issaquah from cities where individual teachers, libraries, or districts merely challenged the book.
The Catcher in the Rye had already attracted objections over profanity, sexual references, and its bleak treatment of adolescence. In 1981, it was reported as both the most censored book and the second most taught book in American public schools—a useful reminder that controversy and classroom popularity often coexisted.