Burning the Books
 First US edition | |
| Author | Richard Ovenden |
|---|---|
| Subject | Books, censorship |
| Publisher | Belknap Press (US) John Murray (UK) |
Publication date | 2020 |
| Pages | 320 p. |
| ISBN | 9780674241206 |
Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge is a 2020 book by Bodleian Libraries Director Richard Ovenden on the history of intentional recorded knowledge destruction. It was shortlisted for the 2021 Wolfson History Prize.[1][2]
The UK version of the book was published as Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack and was reviewed in The Guardian.[3]
The book was abridged and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in six episodes, read by Anthony Head.[4]
Reviews
- Cooke, Rachel (August 31, 2020). "Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden review – the libraries we have lost". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- Hart, Christopher (August 30, 2020). "Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden, review — knowledge under attack from the Nazis to Twitter". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460.
- Howse, Christopher (September 5, 2020). "Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden review: we can't keep all records – so what do we destroy?". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
- Skapinker, Michael (September 1, 2020). "Burning the Books — why memory matters". Financial Times. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
References
- ^ "Shortlist announced for £40k Wolfson History Prize". Books+Publishing. May 3, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
- ^ Mancksy, Jackie (March 26, 2023). "When TV shows disappear from streaming apps: a cautionary tale". The Desert Sun. 96 (135): A27. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
- ^ Freedland, Jonathan (September 10, 2020). "Review: Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden review – knowledge under attack". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ "Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden, 1. A Scholar's Mission". BBC. August 31, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
Works cited by the book
- Bryce, Trevor (2004). Life and Society in the Hittite World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927588-5.
- Carpenter, Humphrey (2008). The Seven Lives of John Murray: The Story of a Publishing Dynasty 1768–2002. John Murray. ISBN 9780719565328.
- Casson, Lionel (2002). Libraries in the Ancient World. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300097214.
- Clark, John Willis (1909). The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and Their Fittings, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge University Press.
- Conaway, James (2000). America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress 1800–2000. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300083088.
- Duffy, Eamon (1992). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c.1400–c.1580. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300060768.
- Gleig, George Robert (1821). A Narrative of the Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, Under Generals Ross. John Murray.
- Harris, P.R. (1998). A History of the British Museum Library 1753–1973. British Library. ISBN 9780712345620.
- Hayner, Priscilla B. (2011). Unspeakable Truths: Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions. Routledge.
- Knuth, Rebecca (2003). Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century. Praeger.
- Layard, Austen H. (1853). Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon. John Murray.
- Leland, John (1895). The Laboryouse Journey & Serche of John Leylande for Englandes Antiquitees ... S.
- Lipstadt, Deborah (1993). Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. Free Press. ISBN 9780029192351.
- Macray, William Dunn (1890). Annals of the Bodleian Library Oxford.
- Makiya, Kanan (1998). Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520214392.
- Meehan, Bernard (1999). The Book of Kells. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500281468.
- Mercier, Désiré-Félicien-François-Joseph (1915). Pastoral Letter of his Eminence Cardinal Mercier Archbishop of Malines Primate of Belgium Christmas 1914. Burns & Oates Ltd.
- Motion, Andrew (1993). Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life. Faber & Faber.
- Orwell, George (2003). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Penguin.
- Peterson, William S. (1991). The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris's Typographical Adventure. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-812887-8.
- Plath, Sylvia (1983). The Journals of Sylvia Plath, Foreword by Ted Hughes. Ballantyne Books. ISBN 9780345351685.
- Poole, Reginald Lane (1912). A Lecture on the History of the University Archives. Clarendon Press.
- Price, David H. (2011). Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books. Oxford University Press.
- Rich, Claudius James (1836). Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh. James Duncan. ISBN 9780576034661.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Toynbee, Arnold J. (1917). The German Terror in Belgium. Hodder & Stoughton.
- Tripp, Charles (2000). A History of Iraq. Cambridge University Press.