Book burning (also biblioclasm or libricide) is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned or shredded. Book burning is usually carried out in public, and is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material.
Book burning can be emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime which is seeking to censor or silence an aspect of a nation's culture. In some cases the works destroyed are irreplaceable and their burning constitutes a severe loss to cultural heritage. Examples include obliteration of the Library of Baghdad, the burning of books and burying of scholars under China's Qin Dynasty, the destruction of Aztec codices by Itzcoatl, and the Nazi book burnings.
Book burning can be an act of contempt for the book's contents or author, and the act is intended to draw wider public attention to this opinion. Examples include the destruction of the Sarajevo National Library, the burning of Wilhelm Reich's books by the FBI, the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy, and the burning of Beatles records after a remark from John Lennon concerning Jesus Christ.
Read more about Book Burning: Historical Background, Burnings By Authors, Books Saved From Burning, Burning For Other Reasons, In Literature, Film and Television
Famous quotes containing the words book and/or burning:
“Let the trumpet of the day of judgment sound when it will, I shall appear with this book in my hand before the Sovereign Judge, and cry with a loud voice, This is my work, there were my thoughts, and thus was I. I have freely told both the good and the bad, have hid nothing wicked, added nothing good.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
“Death is the mother of beauty, mystical,
Within whose burning bosom we devise
Our earthly mothers waiting, sleeplessly.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)