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Book Banning and Genocide
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
—German poet Heinrich Heine.
From Rebecca Knuth, UH Manoa associate professor
of library and information science, comes this new and insightful look into the
connection between genocide and Libricide.
 Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries
in the Twentieth Century identifies the regime-sponsored systemic
destruction of books and libraries in the 20th century often served
as a prelude or accompaniment to the massive human tragedies that
characterized this violent century. Using case studies of libricide
committed by Serbs in Bosnia, Iraqis in Kuwait, Maoists 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.
Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries
in the Twentieth Century is available at the UH Manoa Bookstore.
—Text taken from the Greenwood
Publishing Group's Web site
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