I had no idea that the James Bond novels were racist. Sexist, yes (although representative of the era in which they were written, which should be taken into consideration) -- but racist, too?
So I asked someone I know who is kind of a expert on the James Bond novels, movies, and so on (he's also an author, himself). He told me that, yes, there are passages in the books that, by today's standards, would raise a politically correct eyebrow. I asked him to name one. So he tells me that in the novel
Live and Let Die, Felix Leiter and James Bond are in Harlem looking for Mr. Big. And Felix Leiter (a Texan) tells Bond to watch his step while in Harlem. Felix says something like: "They're so damn sensitive here that, when you go in a bar, you can't ask for a jigger of rum. You have to ask for a jigro of rum."
I thought that was more stupid than racist, in a cornball sort of way. But that's an example of the kind of humor that was considered hardy-ha-harr hilarious back in the day, I guess.
But wait! There's more! The author I spoke to, who knows this stuff about Bond, then informed me that this "jigro" line had
already been deleted from the 1954 American edition of the book (the same year the book was first published in England). He told me that he first read these novels while growing up in England, and was surprised when he came to America and started collecting (and reading) the American editions.
So, this talk about editing the James Bond novels isn't really anything new. There was already editing done for the American editions back in the '50s.
Edited to add:
@SomeRandom, do you know whether the Australian editions of the novels were edited the same as the American editions had been? I'm going to guess that you probably got the same editions over in Australia that they got in England, but I thought I'd ask, anyway.
