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Book burning is the practice of ceremoniously destroying by fire one or more copies of a book or other written material. In modern times other forms of media, such as gramophone records, CDs and video tapes, have also been ceremoniously burned or shredded. The practice, often carried out publicly, is usually motivated by moral, political or religious objections to the material. "Burning books and killing scholars" in 212 BC is counted as the greatest crime of Qin Shi Huang of China.
The writer Heinrich Heine famously said in 1821 "Where they burn books, they will end in burning human beings." (Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen). Just over a century later the Nazis did exactly as Heine had predicted.
The Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 is about a fictional future society that has institutionalized book burning.
Many people find book burning to be offensive for a variety of reasons. Some feel it is a form of censorship that religious or political leaders practice against those ideas that they oppose. This is especially true of Nazi Germany under Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler ( April 20, 1889 April 30, 1945) was the Fuhrer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers' Party and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. In that capacity he was Chancellor of Germany, head of government, and head of state, ruling as a. Those who oppose book burning on those grounds often equate those who burn books with Nazis.
Incidents of book burnings have included:
- Following the advice of Li SiLi Si (, ca. 280-208) was the Prime Minister of the state (and later the dynasty) of Qin, between 246 BC and 209 BC. A famous Legalist, he was also a notable calligrapher. Li Si served under two kings and emperors: Qin Shi Huang, king of Qin and later Fir, Qin Shi Huang ordered all philosophy books and history books from states other than Qin (state)small seal script, 220 BC) Qin or Ch'in ( Wade-Giles) ( 778 BC- 206 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. It eventually grew to dominate the country and unite it for the first time, after which it is referred to-except copies in the imperial library for official uses--to be burned. 212 BC This is accompanied by the live burial of a large number of intellectuals, who did not comply with the state dogma.
- Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. ActsThe Acts of the Apostles (Greek Praxeis Apostolon is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. Abbreviated in Bible citation: Act . The author names it "treatise" (1:1). It was early called "The Acts", "The Gospel of the Holy Ghost 19:19
- The Sibylline BooksThe Sibylline Books were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the semi-legendary last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Em were burnt by Flavius StilichoFlavius Stilicho (c. 359 August 22, 408) was a general magister militum and Patrician of the Western Roman Empire. He was born in Germany, joined the Roman army and rose to the rank of general by the reign of Theodosius I. Stilicho was tasked with defendi (died AD 408Events Theodosius II succeeds his father Arcadius as Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire In the summer of this year, the usurper Constantine III captures Spain, destroying the loyalist forces defending it. September Alaric, king of the Visigot).
- The books of Arius and his followers, after the first Council of Nicaea (AD 325), for heresy.
- The library of the Serapeum in Alexandria, trashed burned and looted by Christians, AD 392, encouraged by their bishop.
- The books of Nestorius, after an edict of Theodosius II, for heresy (AD 435).
- In 1233 Maimonides' "Guide of the Perplexed" was burnt at Montpellier, Southern France.
- In the 1480s Tomas Torquemada promoted the burning of non-Catholic literature, especially Jewish Talmuds and, after the final defeat of the Moors at Granada in 1492, Arabic books also.
- In 1497 the Bonfire of the Vanities, preached by Girolamo Savonarola, consumed pornography, lewd pictures, pagan books, gaming tables, cosmetics, copies of Boccaccio's Decameron, and all the works of Ovid which could be found in Florence.
- In 1918 the Valley of the Squinting Windows in Delvin, Ireland.
- The works of Jewish authors and other "degenerate" books were burned by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.
- The Satanic Verses, burnt by Muslims who considered it blasphemous
- the Harry Potter books, burnt by American Christians who considered them satanic
Other famous items ceremoniously burnt in protest:
