Burning the Books: knowledge under attack from Ancient Assyria to the age of AI
Attacks on libraries and archives have been a feature of history since ancient times but have increased during the modern era. Libraries are far more than stores of literature. Through preserving legal documents such as Magna Carta and records of citizenship, they support the rule of law and rights of citizens. The knowledge they hold on behalf of society is under attack as never before. Richard explores everything from what really happened to the Great Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers, from Donald Trump’s deleting embarrassing tweets to John Murray’s burning of Byron’s memoirs in the name of censorship.
Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow 223rd Annual Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday 02 October 2024
Time: 19:30 - 21:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Building LT 201
Category: Public lectures
Speaker: Professor Richard Ovenden, University of Oxford
This is the first of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow's lecture series for this session. Richard Ovenden is the senior executive officer of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, and is an active researcher. His recent book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021. At once a powerful history of civilisation and a manifesto for the vital importance of physical libraries in our increasingly digital age, Burning the Books is also a very human story animated by an unlikely cast of adventurers, self-taught archaeologists, poets, freedom-fighters — and, of course, librarians and the heroic lengths they will go to preserve and rescue knowledge, ensuring that civilisation survives.