Burning Books And Leveling Libraries

Author : Rebecca Knuth
Publisher : Praeger
ISBN 13 : 0275990079
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Burning Books and Leveling Libraries written by Rebecca Knuth and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her previous book Libricide, Knuth focused on book destruction by authoritarian regimes: Nazis, Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists during the Cultural Revolution in China, and the Chinese Communists in Tibet. But authoritarian governments are not the only perpetrators. Extremists of all stripes--through terrorism, war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and other forms of mass violence--are also responsible for widespread cultural destruction, as she demonstrates in this new book. Whether the product of passion or of a cool-headed decision to use ideas to rationalize excess, the decimation of the world's libraries has occurred throughout the 20th century, and there is no end in sight. Cultural destruction is, therefore, of increasing concern to the library community, educators, human rights and civil rights activists, and caring citizens.

Author : Rebecca Knuth
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313072221
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Libricide written by Rebecca Knuth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2003-07-30 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings, declared German poet Heinrich Heine. This book identifies the regime-sponsored, ideologically driven, and systemic destruction of books and libraries in the 20th century that often served as a prelude or accompaniment to the massive human tragedies that have characterized a most violent century. Using case studies of libricide committed by Nazis, Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists during the Cultural Revolution in China, and Chinese Communists in Tibet, Knuth argues that the destruction of books and libraries by authoritarian regimes was sparked by the same impulses toward negation that provoked acts of genocide or ethnocide. Readers will learn why some people—even those not subject to authoritarian regimes—consider the destruction of books a positive process. Knuth promotes understanding of the reasons behind extremism and patterns of cultural terrorism, and concludes that what is at stake with libricide is nothing less than the preservation and continuation of the common cultural heritage of the world. Anyone committed to freedom of expression and humanistic values will embrace this passionate and valuable book.

Author : Rebecca Knuth
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313071586
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Burning Books and Leveling Libraries written by Rebecca Knuth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether the product of passion or of a cool-headed decision to use ideas to rationalize excess, the decimation of the world's libraries occurred throughout the 20th century, and there is no end in sight. Cultural destruction is, therefore, of increasing concern. In her previous book Libricide, Rebecca Knuth focused on book destruction by authoritarian regimes: Nazis, Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists during the Cultural Revolution in China, and the Chinese Communists in Tibet. But authoritarian governments are not the only perpetrators. Extremists of all stripes—through terrorism, war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and other forms of mass violence—are also responsible for widespread cultural destruction, as she demonstrates in this new book. Burning Books and Leveling Libraries is structured in three parts. Part I is devoted to struggles by extremists over voice and power at the local level, where destruction of books and libraries is employed as a tactic of political or ethnic protest. Part II discusses the aftermath of power struggles in Germany, Afghanistan, and Cambodia, where the winners were utopians who purged libraries in efforts to purify their societies and maintain power. Part III examines the fate of libraries when there is war and a resulting power vacuum. The book concludes with a discussion of the events in Iraq in 2003, and the responsibility of American war strategists for the widespread pillaging that ensued after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. This case poignantly demonstrates the ease with which an oppressed people, given the collapse of civil restraints, may claim freedom as license for anarchy, construing it as the right to prevail, while ignoring its implicit mandate of social responsibility. Using military might to enforce ideals (in this case democracy and freedom) is futile, Knuth argues, if insufficient consideration is given to humanitarian, security, and cultural concerns.

Author : M. Fishburn
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230583660
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Burning Books written by M. Fishburn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-05-21 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This provocative new work examines the years between the Nazi book fires and the publication of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953), a period when book burning captured the popular imagination. It explores how embedded the myths of book burning have become in our cultural history, and illustrates the enduring appeal of a great cleansing bonfire.

Author : Arthur der Weduwen
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1788163443
Total Pages : 425 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Library written by Arthur der Weduwen and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LONGLISTED FOR THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWN A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched, of that extraordinary and enduring phenomenon: the library' Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident. In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library, from the famous collections of the ancient world to the embattled public resources we cherish today. Along the way, they introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world's great collections, trace the rise and fall of fashions and tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanours committed in pursuit of rare and valuable manuscripts.

Author : Lawrence Hill
Publisher : University of Alberta
ISBN 13 : 0888648200
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book written by Lawrence Hill and published by University of Alberta. This book was released on 2013-03-20 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Censorship and book burning are still present in our lives. Lawrence Hill shares his experiences of how ignorance and the fear of ideas led a group in the Netherlands to burn the cover of his widely successful novel, The Book of Negroes, in 2011. Why do books continue to ignite such strong reactions in people in the age of the Internet? Is banning, censoring, or controlling book distribution ever justified? Hill illustrates his ideas with anecdotes and lists names of Canadian writers who faced censorship challenges in the twenty-first century, inviting conversation between those on opposite sides of these contentious issues. All who are interested in literature, freedom of expression, and human rights will enjoy reading Hill's provocative essay.

Author : G. Partington
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137367660
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Book Destruction from the Medieval to the Contemporary written by G. Partington and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-09 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This rich and varied collection of essays by scholars and interviews with artists approaches the fraught topic of book destruction from a new angle, setting out an alternative history of the cutting, burning, pulping, defacing and tearing of books from the medieval period to our own age.

Author : Dan Rabinowitz
Publisher : Brandeis University Press
ISBN 13 : 1512603104
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Lost Library written by Dan Rabinowitz and published by Brandeis University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-04 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Strashun Library was among the most important Jewish public institutions in Vilna, and indeed in Eastern Europe, prior to its destruction during World War II. Mattityahu Strashun, descended from a long and distinguished line of rabbis, bequeathed his extensive personal library of 5,753 volumes to the Vilna Jewish community on his death in 1885, with instructions that it remain open to all. In the summer of 1941, the Nazis came to Vilna, plundered the library, and shipped many of its books to Germany for deposition at a future Institute for Research into the Jewish Question. When the war ended, the recovery effort began. Against all odds, a number of the greatest treasures of the library could be traced. However, owing to its diverse holdings and its many prewar patrons, a custody battle erupted over the remaining holdings. Who should be heir to the Strashun Library? This book tells the story of the Strashun Library from its creation through the contentious battle for ownership following the war until present day. Pursuant to a settlement in 1958, the remnants of the greatest prewar library in Europe were split between two major institutions: the secular YIVO in the United States and the rabbinic library of Hechal Shlomo in Israel, a compromise that struck at the heart of the library's original unifying mission.

Author : Emily J. M. Knox
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442231688
Total Pages : 187 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Book Banning in 21st-Century America written by Emily J. M. Knox and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-01-16 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Requests for the removal, relocation, and restriction of books—also known as challenges—occur with some frequency in the United States. Book Banning in 21st-Century American Libraries, based on thirteen contemporary book challenge cases in schools and public libraries across the United States argues that understanding contemporary reading practices, especially interpretive strategies, is vital to understanding why people attempt to censor books in schools and public libraries. Previous research on censorship tends to focus on legal frameworks centered on Supreme Court cases, historical case studies, and bibliographies of texts that are targeted for removal or relocation and is often concerned with how censorship occurs. The current project, on the other hand, is focused on the why of censorship and posits that many censorship behaviors and practices, such as challenging books, are intimately tied to the how one understands the practice of reading and its effects on character development and behavior. It discusses reading as a social practice that has changed over time and encompasses different physical modalities and interpretive strategies. In order to understand why people challenge books, it presents a model of how the practice of reading is understood by challengers including “what it means” to read a text, and especially how one constructs the idea of “appropriate” reading materials. The book is based on three different kinds sources. The first consists of documents including requests for reconsideration and letters, obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to governing bodies, produced in the course of challenge cases. Recordings of book challenge public hearings constitute the second source of data. Finally, the third source of data is interviews with challengers themselves. The book offers a model of the reading practices of challengers. It demonstrates that challengers are particularly influenced by what might be called a literal “common sense” orientation to text wherein there is little room for polysemic interpretation (multiple meanings for text). That is, the meaning of texts is always clear and there is only one avenue for interpretation. This common sense interpretive strategy is coupled with what Cathy Davidson calls “undisciplined imagination” wherein the reader is unable to maintain distance between the events in a text and his or her own response. These reading practices broaden our understanding of why people attempt to censor books in public institutions.

Author : Berber Bevernage
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1349953067
Total Pages : 877 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945 written by Berber Bevernage and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 877 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides the first systematic integrated analysis of the role that states or state actors play in the construction of history and public memory after 1945. The book focuses on many different forms of state-sponsored history, including memory laws, monuments and memorials, state-archives, science policies, history in schools, truth commissions, historical expert commissions, the use of history in courts and tribunals etc. The handbook contributes to the study of history and public memory by combining elements of state-focused research in separate fields of study. By looking at the state’s memorialising capacities the book introduces an analytical perspective that is not often found in classical studies of the state. The handbook has a broad geographical focus and analyses cases from different regions around the world. The volume mainly tackles democratic contexts, although dictatorial regimes are not excluded.