A reckoning for a classic children's author

Background

The publishing house Ravensburg withdrew a children’s book from publication just days after it came out as the accompaniment to the film Der junge Häuptling Winnetou (The young chieftain Winnetou).

Both film and book are spin offs of much-loved adventure books from the late 19th century by an author called Karl May.

When it comes to German pulp literature, it is hard to overstate May’s legacy. His books about two friends - an Apache chieftain called Winnetou and a German emigre nicknamed Old Shatterhand - have been staple childhood reading for over a hundred years.