Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century

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Overview

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings, declared German poet Heinrich Heine. This book identifies the regime-sponsored, ideologically driven, and systemic destruction of books and libraries in the 20th century that often served as a prelude or accompaniment to the massive human tragedies that have characterized a most violent century. Using case studies of libricide committed by Nazis, Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists during the Cultural Revolution in China, and Chinese ...

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Overview

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings, declared German poet Heinrich Heine. This book identifies the regime-sponsored, ideologically driven, and systemic destruction of books and libraries in the 20th century that often served as a prelude or accompaniment to the massive human tragedies that have characterized a most violent century. Using case studies of libricide committed by Nazis, Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists during the Cultural Revolution in China, and Chinese Communists in Tibet, Knuth argues that the destruction of books and libraries by authoritarian regimes was sparked by the same impulses toward negation that provoked acts of genocide or ethnocide.

Readers will learn why some people—even those not subject to authoritarian regimes—consider the destruction of books a positive process. Knuth promotes understanding of the reasons behind extremism and patterns of cultural terrorism, and concludes that what is at stake with libricide is nothing less than the preservation and continuation of the common cultural heritage of the world. Anyone committed to freedom of expression and humanistic values will embrace this passionate and valuable book.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Lurking behind the academic prose of this historical survey is a compelling, provocative analysis of "libricide," the systematic destruction or robbery of books and other cultural artifacts as part of an ideological campaign against a group or nation. Focusing on five case studies-Germany, Bosnia, Kuwait, China and Tibet-Knuth, a professor of library and information science at the University of Hawaii, argues that libricide often coincides with, or even precedes, genocide. The earliest modern example of such a pattern occurred in Germany, where the Nazi regime "purified" national libraries of Jewish content and selectively "looted, destroyed, and pulped" libraries of German-occupied countries as part of their program to create a homogenized, Aryan state. Similarly, during Hussein's six-month occupation of Kuwait in 1989-90, Iraqis destroyed 43% of the book stocks in school libraries even as they subjected the resident population to "the horrors of torture, rape, and summary execution." The Serbs, Knuth documents, destroyed a good part of the cultural heritage of Bosnian Moslems, Croats, and Slovenes; the Chinese conducted not only the appalling Cultural Revolution, but also the near obliteration of traditional Tibetan culture. The opening three chapters of this book, which offer a theoretical framework for the libricide-genocide connection, and the conclusion, which sets Knuth's argument in context of other genocide studies, are written in a much drier, more academic style than the five case histories. However, Knuth's argument is powerfully drawn and deserves a wider audience than the scholarly and library professional readership for which it seems rather clearly intended. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
The German poet Heinrich Heine once declared, "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Following this thread, Knuth (library and information studies, Univ. of Hawaii) argues that the destruction of libraries by extremist governments is a precursor of political systems that will become increasingly violent toward their citizens and others under their control. To support her premise, she presents case studies of "libricide," the systematic state-sponsored destruction of books and libraries, committed by Hitler and the Nazis, the Chinese Communists in Tibet, the Iraqis in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, the Serbs in Bosnia, and the Maoists during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Knuth theorizes that the growth of libraries is a crucial step in the development of cultures; thus, as cultures decay so do libraries. Still, the stages of decline sometimes caused by the destruction of libraries are seen as tragedies by some but as a part of the cycle of life by others. In Library: An Unquiet History, Matthew Battles indicates some destruction can also trigger renewed intellectual growth in a culture as a society recovers from a disaster. However, Knuth points out that this theory of regrowth does not hold true for extremist revolutionary governments that destroy libraries and slaughter intellectual communities. These actions are those regimes' attempt to control the past and shape the future to fit their own rigid ideology; the consequences are even more devastating in this modern era of electronic and resource sharing networks. Students of history know that one of the best ways to control a society is to control the information it accesses, but by using case studies, Knuth really brings her point home. Her provocative study is recommended for professional reading collections, library schools, and educated general readers interested in intellectual freedom.-Tim Daniels, Lib. & Information Ctr., Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780275980887
  • Publisher: ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 7/30/2003
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Pages: 296
  • Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.20 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

REBECCA KNUTH is Chair of the Library and Information Science Program at the University of Hawaii, where she is also Associate Professor.

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Table of Contents

Preface
1 Books, Libraries, and the Phenomenon of Ethnocide 1
2 The Evolution and Functions of Libraries 19
3 A Theoretical Framework for Libricide 49
4 Nazi Germany: Racism and Nationalism 75
5 Greater Serbia 105
6 Iraq, Kuwait, and the Politics of Thuggery 135
7 China's Cultural Revolution 165
8 Tibet: A Culture in Jeopardy 199
9 The Collision of Ideas 235
Index 255
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