Burning the books : a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge
(Book)

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Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
Status
Central Library - Nonfiction - 2nd Floor
363.3 Ov
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Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-290) and index.
Description
Opening with the notorious bonfires of "un-German" and Jewish literature in 1933 that offered such a clear signal of Nazi intentions, Burning the Books takes us on a 3000-year journey through the destruction of knowledge and the fight against all the odds to preserve it. Richard Ovenden, director of the world-famous Bodleian Library, explains how attacks on libraries and archives have been a feature of history since ancient times but have increased in frequency and intensity during the modern era. Libraries are far more than stores of literature, through preserving the legal documents such as Magna Carta and records of citizenship, they also support the rule of law and the rights of citizens. Today, the knowledge they hold on behalf of society is under attack as never before. In this fascinating book, he explores everything from what really happened to the Great Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers, from Donald Trump's deleting embarrassing tweets to John Murray's burning of Byron's memoirs in the name of censorship. At once a powerful history of civilisation and a manifesto for the vital importance of physical libraries in our increasingly digital age, Burning the Books is also a very human story animated by an unlikely cast of adventurers, self-taught archaeologists, poets, freedom-fighters; and, of course, librarians and the heroic lengths they will go to preserve and rescue knowledge, ensuring that civilization survives. From the rediscovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the desert, hidden from the Romans and lost for almost 2000 years to the medieval manuscript that inspired William Morris, the knowledge of the past still has so many valuable lessons to teach us and we ignore it at our peril.

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Ovenden, R. (2020). Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge (First Harvard University Press edition.). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Ovenden, Richard. 2020. Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Ovenden, Richard. Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Ovenden, Richard. Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge First Harvard University Press edition., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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