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Books on Fire: The Tumultuous Story of the World's Great Libraries

Books on Fire: The Tumultuous Story of the World's Great Libraries

by N/A

  • Used

    Hardcover 2007

    $3.28
Synopsis

Here is a magisterial history of the destruction of knowledge over the millennia. Hugely impressive in scope, Polastrons book takes the reader on a journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times, showing how the urge to write, read and collect books has always gone hand in hand with the impulse to destroy them.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 384
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Published: 24 Sep 2007
ISBN 10: 0500513848
ISBN 13: 9780500513842

Media Reviews
If you are lover of the printed word, this book will open your eyes, and most likely shock you.
Polastron's exhaustive research and vast scope make this detailed, authoritative study a revelatory read.
This book contributes to a new understanding of the devastation caused by book burning. Every reader's worst nightmare is recorded with horrid fascination.
In addition to an intensive survey of book destruction as policy, Books on Fire provides a splendid education in book collecting as a passion--as well as book production, library management, and great bibliophiles and their collections. . . . Jon E. Graham's masterful translation and the author's helpful chronology enhance this book.
A book on the subject of books - not only about books, but about the burning of books and libraries - might give the impression of being dull and boring. That is far from the case with Books on Fire . It is a fascinating account of the destruction of the world's greatest libraries that will haunt the dreams of bibliophiles who read it . . . . Highly recommended.
Polastron performs marvelous feats of synthesis and revelation as he describes the lost libraries of antiquity; portrays such library makers as the Sumerian Ashurbanipal, the caliph al-Hakam (circa 970), and Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty; chronicles dramatic assaults against libraries; and offers discerning analysis, backed by rarely aired facts, about the crucial role books play as both vehicles of knowledge and freedom and instruments of tyranny
Author Bio
Lucien X. Polastron is an historian specializing in Chinese and Arab studies and has written several books on calligraphy as well as a monumental study of paper, Le Papier: 2000 ans d'histoire. He lives and works in Paris.