LEADER 03804cam a22004573i 4500003 hubpceuo 005 20210215103741.0 006 m d0101 007 ta 008 191005t20202020enka g b 001 0 eng d 020 9781529378764 |q(paperback) 020 9781529378788 |q(electronic book) 020 9781529378757 |qhardback 040 CaONFJC |beng |erda |cCaONFJC |dhubpceuo 041 eng 082 04 363.3109 |223 100 1 Ovenden, Richard, |eauthor. |d1964- 245 10 Burning the books : |ba history of knowledge under attack / |cRichard Ovenden. 260 London : |bJohn Murray, |c2020. 300 308 p. : |bill. ; |c24 cm. 337 unmediated 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-290) and index. 505 Cracked clay under the mounds -- A pyre and papyrus -- When books were dog cheap -- An ark to save learning -- Spoil of the conqueror -- How to disobey Kafka -- The twice-burned library -- The paper brigade -- To be burned unread -- Sarajevo Mon Amour -- Flames of empire -- An obsession with archives -- The digital deluge -- Paradise lost? -- Coda: Why we will always need libraries and archives. 520 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. 650 0 Libraries |xDestruction and pillage |xHistory |y20th century. 650 0 Libraries |xDestruction and pillage |xHistory |y21st century. 650 0 Book burning |xHistory |y20th century. 650 0 Book burning |xHistory |y21st century. 650 0 Censorship |xHistory. 650 0 Archives |xHistory. 650 0 Cultural property |xProtection. 650 0 Information science |xSociological aspects. 650 0 Books |xSocial aspects |xHistory. 650 0 Libraries |xSocial aspects. 650 0 Archives |xSocial aspects. 942 |2ddc |cBK 952 |00 |10 |2ddc |40 |6363_310900000000000_OVE |70 |8ARC |9129973OSA |bOSA |d2021-02-15 |eOSA |l0 |o363.3109 OVE |r2021-02-15 |w2021-02-15 |yBK |cReference 920 01 Pe8nwPXW 992 01 363_310900000000000_OVE |bWTW_WYZQZZZZZZZZZZZ_B4L 966 |cIn the Research Room