A new edition of the vigorous and already renowned essay in which Deonísio da Silva surveys the over 500 books censored in Brazil between 1964 and 1985, and studies the relation between writers and the power by means of a representative case: the suit filed against Rubem Fonseca upon the prohibition of his book of short stories Feliz Ano Novo (Happy New Year). But the author does not only show the mistakes of censorship, supported by the great number of claims that took part in the court case. He goes further and tries to understand the reasons why his colleague's work was forbidden, when only Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce have been through similar court cases.