Brinton Censored

Thirty pages on the history of Christianity have been deleted from a history text written by three Harvard professors. The book, A History of Civilization, is being used on a trial basis in Forest Grove Junior High School, where authorities removed the offending chapter.

Crane Brinton, one of the three co-authors, said that all copyright privileges for the text have been turned over to the publishers, Prentice-Hall Inc. Brinton, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History, stated that the public schools were entirely within their rights at attempting to enforce separation of church and state.

None of the authors expressed concern over the incident, since the book was written not for ninth graders, but for college freshmen and sophomores. Asked if he would have handled the subject matter differently for ninth grade students, Brinton said: "I just can't imagine writing for ninth graders. My mind will not cope with that, and there's no reason why I should."