The view was that there are some ideas you don't want the population to grasp. Until the early 1900’s, literacy was not viewed as a good thing in much of Europe. Look at Spain for example (pre revolutionary Spain). Now, I love books. My children will inherit that. But they are a shrinking medium, and the things you are saying were said against books not that long ago. Imagination was frowned on, which is why some of the Oz books were banned.
It is not so much “books”—it is ideas.....since Socrates was killed—and Jesus—an numerous other “radicals” who never even wrote a book.
There has always been people who wanted to ban books-—because of the power of ideas and knowledge. It is why Blacks were not allowed to learn to read.
So, yes, it was the Gutenberg press which sparked the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason and, of course, the Protestant Revolution which gave all people access to the Bible.
The Founding Fathers and the colonists were the most literate population at that time. People in England stated that the most books sold were to the colonies—not only that—Madison kept writing to Jefferson who was in Europe telling him to send him any new published books on politics or law.
Books were always used by radicals—esp. Machiavelli’s, which even the Founders read. Books led to the Founding of the US—Books led to the most profound political document ever written—The Constitution of the US.
It is why the schools are intentionally dumbing down the populace since Dewey and less and less kids are reading books starting with the schools intentional destruction of the phonics system in the 30’s. Outraged parents made them put it back in the schools when they found out their little Johnny was not reading even in 3rd grade-—a first-—so, the clever “teachers” and Billy Ayers types instigated implicit phonics which still makes reading frustrating for most kids, since they destroy their decoding ability and obscure logic and reason.
Explicit phonics has always been the most efficient and effective system that had created the most literate country-—so it is strange (ha ha) that there are schools today still teaching “implicit” phonics and parents assume it is the efficient method and then just think their children are slow or have ADD so they can drug little Johnny.
Cynical about education? Yes, absolutely—Read BK Eakman and John Gatto and numerous other experts on curricula.