Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
The director of the famed Bodleian Libraries at Oxford narrates the global history of the willful destruction -- and surprising survival -- of recorded knowledge over the past three millennia. Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. Burning the Books recounts the history that brought us to this point. Richard Ovenden describes the deliberate destruction of knowledge held in libraries and archives from ancient Alexandria to contemporary Sarajevo, from smashed Assyrian tablets in Iraq to the destroyed immigration documents of the United Kingdom's Windrush generation. He examines both the motivations for these acts -- political, religious, and cultural -- and the broader themes that shape this history. He also looks at attempts to prevent and mitigate attacks on knowledge, exploring the efforts of librarians and archivists to preserve information, often risking their own lives in the process. More than simply repositories for knowledge, libraries and archives inspire and inform citizens. In preserving notions of statehood recorded in such historical documents as the Declaration of Independence, libraries support the state itself. By preserving records of citizenship and records of the rights of citizens as enshrined in legal documents such as the Magna Carta and the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, they support the rule of law. In Burning the Books, Ovenden takes a polemical stance on the social and political importance of the conservation and protection of knowledge, challenging governments in particular, but also society as a whole, to improve public policy and funding for these essential institutions. - Publisher.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Written communication, Censorship, History, Archives, Intellectual lifeShowing 5 featured editions. View all 5 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge
2022, Harvard University Press, Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
in English
0674271106 9780674271104
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge
2020, Harvard University Press
Hardcover
in English
0674241207 9780674241206
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4
Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge
2020, Harvard University Press
in English
067424950X 9780674249509
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
5 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created September 1, 2020
- 4 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
March 1, 2021 | Edited by Mek | adding ocaid |
February 15, 2021 | Edited by Bryan Tyson | Edited without comment. |
February 15, 2021 | Edited by Bryan Tyson | Added new cover |
September 1, 2020 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Better World Books record |