Burning the Books
2020 book by Richard Ovenden
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 .
The UK version of the book was published as Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack and was reviewed in The Guardian .
The book was abridged and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in six episodes, read by Anthony Head .
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 . Retrieved September 7, 2020 .{{cite web }}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link )
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 .
Toynbee, Arnold J. (1917). The German Terror in Belgium . Hodder & Stoughton .
Tripp, Charles (2000). A History of Iraq . Cambridge University Press.