Burning the Books: RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: A History of Knowledge Under Attack
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By Richard Ovenden
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3 reviews
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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 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.
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Macclesfield Library Reading Group
Thank you to John Murray Publishing and The Reading Agency for providing free copies for us to review. We were all glad to have read this book, despite it not being what many of us would usually choose. Given that the book covered such a vast time span, we were all able to take something away from it, whether you’re interested in ancient history or the more modern periods. We thought the book nicely walked the line between being scholarly enough for academics and being toned down enough for the interested layperson. The book was incredibly well-researched and we all agreed with its main point that libraries are vital to the running of society and should be treasured. The book led us on to a wider discussion about cancel culture and the Black Lives Matter movement, so all in all it was an excellent read, and hugely informative.
I found this book both absorbing and informative. I have only ever used a Library for the loan of books and had little understanding of the depth of the reference and archive departments within my local library.
The fascination for me was the building of the several types of information be it scrolls, slate tablets, books, charts, and maps dated from the early years of civilization through to today’s digital age.
The book was clearly written and easy to follow as the author is informing the reader of his passion for holding and preserving knowledge.
The absolute destruction of libraries throughout the ages came as a surprise. The descriptions of negative effort that has been spent by multiple governments to dispose of the heritage and history of opposing societies gave an excellent report of the continuing control of information in the modern world.
The statements of how today’s electronic information is gathered and controlled by the big four or five tech giants gives the reader much something to consider.
Overall, a sound history of the value of securing our libraries and archive storage of information. Well worth reading and would recommend it to other book clubs.
Peter Kerins
Methley Book Club
October 2021
An enlightening read and provoked a new understanding of libraries and archives - never truly thought about it before. A good resource read as well padded with extra notes and references. It did get a bit samey though but in the cause of emphasising his themes I guess. Interesting observations on the digital age and the challenges society is facing with the amount of information in the hands of a few powerful media giants. I've recommended it to two librarians.
