Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries Throughout History

by Lucien X. Polastron

Book Overview

A historical survey of the destruction of knowledge from ancient Babylon and China to modern times - Includes the three separate destructions of the Library of Alexandria as well as many equally significant collections around the world - Examines the causes of violence directed at repositories of knowledge - Looks at the dangers posed by digitalization of books to the free availability of knowledge in the future Hebrew, Hindu, Nordic, and Islamic traditions share the belief of a vast library existing before the creation of the world. The Vedas say that this library predated the creator's creation of himself. Yet, almost as old as the idea of the library is the urge to destroy it. The reasons cited for this are many: educated people are much harder to govern, and some proclaim that only the illiterate can save the world. There are also great destructions brought about by weather, worms, and even the paranoia of the library's owner. Books on Fire traces the history of this perpetual destruction from the burning of the great library of Alexandria (on three separate occasions) and the libraries of the Chinese Qing Dynasty to more modern catastrophic losses such as those witnessed in Nazi-occupied Europe and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The author examines the causes for these disasters, the treasures that have been lost, and where the surviving books, if any, have ended up. His investigation also reveals a new danger facing libraries today with the digitalization of books threatening both the existence of the physical paper book and the very idea of reading for free. The promise of an absolute library offered by the computer may well turn out to equal the worst nightmares of Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell. Books on Fire received the 2004 Soci t des Gens de Lettres Prize for Nonfiction/History in Paris.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594771677
• ISBN13: 9781594771675
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Inner Traditions International
• Length: 371 Pages
• Weight: 1.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Books at Risk

This book is a sobering parable about the ongoing vulnerability of cultural heritage as a result of natural and man-made disasters.

Illuminating History of Lost Thought

At first, I found the author's style turgid. But I was mesmerized by the sheer volume of fascinating and scholarly details, so I persisted. As I became immersed in this wonderful book, I also became accustomed to the author's blend of sly asides and wry commentary and his vast scope and depth of information. I recognized that my initial reaction reflected on me and not this book. Bibliophiles will feel pang after pang as the relentless destruction of the world's libraries, including everything from Sumerian texts to modern-day digitization, is chronicled. Others will feel a chill to realize how fragmentary is the history of human thought. This book suggests that the majority of human literary and scholarly works are lost, via a long history of destruction. It was humbling to me to ponder that, though people in 2008 assume that we are the inheritors of a long, cumulative history of learning, in reality, we just know of the random scraps remaining from a great and tragic decimation. This book changed my view on the history of human thought. The author spent ten years researching it, and the resulting deeply rich work is a stellar accomplishment that I will return to again and again.

A "must-have" history for public libraries and the shelf of any book lover.

Historian Lucien X. Polastron presents Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries throughout History, a chronicle of the destruction of libraries. The reasons for expunging repositories of human knowledge were varied: educated people are more difficult to govern; some claimed that only the illiterate can save the world; sometimes library's owner succumbed to paranoia; and sometimes destruction came through weather or worms rather than human agencies. From the burning of the great library of Alexandria on three separate occasions, to the biblio-destruction inflicted under Nazi occupation and library ransacking during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Books on Fire explores the literary tragedies of history, and follows up with a new possible threat to the physical paper book - the digital book. With books increasingly being transferred to electronic mediums and read online for free, could old-fashioned libraries one day become a thing of the past? A "must-have" history for public libraries and the shelf of any book lover.

This Book is Definitely NOT for Burning

When I first took this book out of its mailing container I thought: "Gee, it's damaged. How could that have happened in a cardboard box?" Then I looked more closely & realized that the jacket of the book was cleverly designed to give the appearance of its having been burned. So that right off can't help but stir a potential reader's interest. BOOKS ON FIRE is a historical examination of book burning & the destruction of famous(and not so famous) libraries. The work is penned by a skilled writer who knows that the best way to convey history is by letting the reader in on behind the scenes descriptions, gossip & scandal. For example, the opening chapter deals with the fabled Library of Alexandria under the imported Ptolemy dynasty (that concluded with the death of Cleopatra.) I have been studying this historic period for some time now, but Lucien X. Polastron sprinkles this section of his work with wonderful little tidbits that were new to me, and that also shed new light on this fascinating moment in time. Regarding The Library of Alexandria, author Lucien X. Polastron quotes Hugh Lloyd-Jones: "If this Library had survived, the dark ages, despite the preponderance of Christianity, could have been considerably lighter." Polastron opens each chapter with a short, pithy and/or poetic quotes from diverse sources. For example, the author opens Chapter 3 with this quote from Alexander Pope commenting on public book burning "Heavens, what a pile! Whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns learning into air." BOOKS ON FIRE was originally written in French, and is well served by Jon E. Graham's impeccable & colloquial perfect English translation. Polastron's writing style is poetic, contemporary, engaging, often humorous (sometimes slyly so) & extraordinarily insightful: "So just what are libraries, then? For the nation they are indecipherable dead weight, for the bureaucrats an empoisoned directive; but above all, they are the symbol of tyranny in the eyes of the restless..." The contents cover the full gamut of book burning & library wrecking in human history, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Early Christian era, the early days of Islam, the Inquisition in Europe & the Americas, to Hitler & Stalin, up to and including our own time. In bewteen the major historical periods Polastron includes lesser known, but equally enlightening & devastating examples of violent censorship of The Collective Word. No transgressor is spared the damning spotlight revealed by the author: Left, Right & every bigoted position in bewteen. It is shocking to become aware of the thousands, probably tens of thousands of violent attempts to surpress human thought there have been throughtout our torturous history. The section Early Islam provided a wealth of information that really helped me personally understand the historic significance of this religion. I've read a number of academic books on this complex subject, but no