Libricide

Reviews / Votes

After summarily disposing in her first few pages of the longer history of desultory library destruction, she goes into detailed accounts of recent purposeful library depredations (those of the last three-score years or so) involving ideology-driven, regime-sponsored, systematic destruction of book collections intended to bring about the suppression of an entire populace, culture, and/or political will. Hers is a sobering story indeed....Although this is not a pleasant book to read, Knuth is a careful scholar and an engaging writer. Of the three recent books on this same general theme read by this reviewer, hers is easily the most thorough and compelling. It is comprehensively researched, fully documented, and well annotated. * Libraries & Culture * Knuth expertly straddles the disciplines of political history, political philosophy, sociology and of course, library and information science, to deliver a piece of work that would be of interest to students and scholars rooted in any of these aforementioned disciplines....[a] truly indispensable resource. Not only is ^ILibricide^R indispenable, it is seminal. * Library Review * 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....Knuth's argument is powerfully drawn. * Publishers Weekly * The subject matter and details presented in the case studies are both compelling on their own and skillfully presented in a narrative that is engaging and readable....Libricide is obviously an important phenomenon. * College & Research Libraries * Argues that government-authorized book-burning often precedes or accompanies genocide, since the obliteration of a people cannot be accomplished without destroying its printed history. * C&RL News * Knuth's study should be on every librarian's reading list. * American Libraries * Within the context of genocidal and ethnocidal campaigns, this book describes how libricide, the intentional destruction of books and libraries, is a specific act of brutalism. . . .It is an important topic for librarians and archivists to be aware of, in order to recognize how their collections reflect the silences and voices enforced and allowed by the political environments they were created within. * New England Archivists * 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. * Library Journal *