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    On the Burning of Books: How flames fail to destroy the written word
    Unavailable
    On the Burning of Books: How flames fail to destroy the written word
    Unavailable
    On the Burning of Books: How flames fail to destroy the written word
    Ebook399 pages5 hours

    On the Burning of Books: How flames fail to destroy the written word

    By Kenneth Baker

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In this revealingly illustrated book, the political sage Kenneth Baker records the many times throughout history when books have been burnt for political, religious, or personal reasons. Ranging politically from Ancient China to the Nazis, from Animal Farm to Chairman Mao; religiously, from the Spanish destruction of the Aztec civilisation to Bloody Mary, from Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses to bibles in Islamist strongholds today; personally, from Samuel Pepys and Lord Byron to Dickens’s letters, Hardy’s poems, Burton’s translations, and Philip Larkin’s diaries.
    Alongside these telling examples are chapters on burning in war, accidental burning, royal burning – and lucky escapes.
    Baker reveals that while books, diaries and letters can be burnt, as a result of the invention of the printing press in the 16th century, very rarely can their content be expunged from the written record in history - the ‘delete’ button did not delete. Book burning today survives as a symbol, usually by desperate regimes, dictators and religious fanatics to impress the naive, warn the dissenter and rally the faithful.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUnicorn
    Release dateMay 26, 2016
    ISBN9781911604068
    Unavailable
    On the Burning of Books: How flames fail to destroy the written word

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    Reviews for On the Burning of Books

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Approaches the subject of the destruction of books and manuscripts from the perspective of a literarily-inclined politician. Basically a collect of tales and anecdotes, with no general analysis or connecting overview. But because his view is distinctly British, his catalog of events includes several that are not generally included in similar collections. Well written, and sumptuously illustrated. Of special note is the inclusion of a rare poem by Ted Hughes, and with which the book author had some early connection.