Burning the Books: RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: A History of Knowledge Under Attack

Ovenden, Richard

ISBN 10: 1529378753 / ISBN 13: 9781529378757

Published by John Murray, 2020

About this Item

Ausreichend/Acceptable: Exemplar mit vollständigem Text und sämtlichen Abbildungen oder Karten. Schmutztitel oder Vorsatz können fehlen. Einband bzw. Schutzumschlag weisen unter Umständen starke Gebrauchsspuren auf. / Describes a book or dust jacket that has the complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, dust jacket (if any), etc may also be worn.

Seller Inventory # M01529378753-B

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Burning the Books: RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: A History of Knowledge Under Attack
• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1529378753
• ISBN 13: 9781529378757
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: acceptable

About this title

Synopsis

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

'Burning the Books is fascinating, thought-provoking and very timely. No one should keep quiet about this library history' IAN HISLOP

Opening with the notorious bonfires of 'un-German' and Jewish literature in 1933 that offered such a clear signal of 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 civilisation 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.