A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq by Fernando Báez
A product of ten years of research and support from leading American and European universities, A Universal History of the Destruction of Books traces a tragic story: the smashed tablets of ancient Sumer, the widespread looting of libraries in post-war Iraq, the leveling of the Library of Alexandria, book burnings by Crusaders and Nazis, and suppressive censorship against authors past and present.
With diligence and grace, Báez mounts a compelling investigation into the motives behind the destruction of books, reading man’s violence against writing as a perverse anti-creation. “By destroying,” Báez argues, “man ratifies this ritual of permanence, purification and consecration; by destroying, man brings to the surface a behavior originating in the depth of his personality.” His findings ultimately attest to the lasting power of books as the great human repository of knowledge and memory, fragile yet vital bulwarks against the intransigence and barbarity of every age.
We're going through some disturbing times right now, and social media is censoring many people. That is the modern day book burning. I saw someone suggest this book on social media so I bought a copy from a secondhand store.
I did learn a whole lot. It really covers everything, not just censorship book burnings, but books lost in shipwrecks, earthquakes, natural disasters, and to just deterioration (bugs and acid from the glue); as well as books destroyed in fiction (think 1984, Fahrenheit 451) and authors who ordered their own books/manuscripts be destroyed as their last wish.
Which cracks me up because, why not destroy your works yourself? It's like the writer doesn't have the guts to do it themselves so they push the responsibility onto a close relative.
A criticism I have is that because it really covers a universal history over so many eras that there are many little stories. I couldn’t absorb it all. It was just tidbit after tidbit. It's more like an encyclopedia.
There were also so many destroyed books mentioned, often in foreign languages, that I would just skim those titles because it was more like a listing of destroyed books instead of explaining their significance.
I'm sure anyone who cared to look more into a certain time period, or a missing or destroyed book they can do their own research/reading. Because in the end this book is pretty thick and how many minute details do we need to be bogged down with?
In the end it is a good source to have that covers a wide range of topics, time periods, and explanations about why books are destroyed. It also just makes me sad to think of how many hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of books have been destroyed. I also wonder, what if they had never been destroyed at all. Where would we put them all?
3.5 out of 5 Libraries.