The Burning of Books, J.M. Burlock [ebook and pdf reader .TXT] 📗

                                                    The Burning of Books


                    In reading the book “Fahrenheit 451,” by the renowned author “Ray Bradbury”; I wondered if things would ever get that way?

Would the government actually ban all books from being in houses?

Would it become against the law to own any?

Would it be against the law to read what is written in all the various books we are privileged to own.

    There have been many books written, some good- and some not worth the paper it was printed on. And maybe they do deserve burning, but we don't do that. People are allowed to write what they want. It is up to us to choose what we want to read, or even possess. People used to have immense libraries, where they would have books by all kinds of authors. And they would read as a pastime or for entertainment.

              Before I delve into the times throughout the history of books having been burned. I would like to tell you a little about the author, Ray Bradbury, and what possessed him to write this book. He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury, August 20, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. From his youth on, he was always a reader and writer. In 1932, when the carnival came to town, the entertainer, Mr. Electrico, touched Ray with an electrified sword which made his hair stand on end, and shouted, “Live forever!” He attributed his lifelong daily writing habit, to the day this entertainer touched him.

             He spent most of his time as a youth, in the Carnegie Library in Waukegan. While in there he would spend his time reading and writing. His family moved from Waukegan to Tucson, Arizona in the years 1926-1927 and 1932-33, so his father could find work. Always returning to Waukegan, then eventually moving to Los Angeles in 1934, at the age of thirteen. And in 1938, he graduated from Los Angeles High School. He never went to college after graduating high school, but chose to educate himself at the local library when his family lived in Los Angeles.

          He wrote many stories during this time, even launching his own fanzine in 1939, called “Futuria Fantasia,” writing most of its four issues. His first actual writing where he received a payment for was a pulp magazine- “Super Science Stories” in 1941, which earned him $15.00! He has come along way from those early days, and has become a wonderful writer.

          When he went to write the book “ Fahrenheit 451”, it was based on reality. He wrote this fantastic story in the year 1953, which was based on the premise that books were illegal, and if you owned or had been caught reading one, the firemen would come and burn your house down. In 1966, a movie was made with François Truffaut as the director. Another movie is slated to be filmed in the summer of 2008, with Frank Darabont as the director. The actor slated to play the part of Guy Montag, has not been cast yet, but would be announced. It will be most interesting to see a remake of this outstanding book.

        Not only because this book is good, but is very factual. As the burning of books has gone on for centuries. The first documented case is when the Emperor Qin Sin Huan during the 3rd century burned the Chinese Philosophy books. Books of various types ranging from religious, early Braille, Anti-Communist, Jorge Amado's novels, comic books, and even in some cities Harry Potter books were burned.

          What spurned Ray Bradbury to write this story about book burning, was when he saw a picture of Hitler ordering the burning books by the Nazi youth groups. In May 10,1933 in Berlin, Germany this group burned around 20,000 books from the Institut Für Sexualwissenschaft and the Humbolt University. Some of the works belonged to: Heinrich Hune, Thomas Mann, Karl Marx, Erich Maria Remarque, and H. G. Wells. Any works by Jewish authors were considered un-German. Erich Kastner wrote a gripping account of witnessing the burning of his own books, but was published only after the fall of Nazism! Many of the books at that time were considered Jewish, anti-Nazi, or “ degenerate.”

         In 1948, they publicly burned 2,000 comic books in Binghamton, New York. This was done by the watch of priests, teachers, and parents, but it was the children that did the actual burning.

       Most recent book burnings have been this year. Several churches in Alamogordo, New Mexico; Charleston, South Carolina; and Cedar Rapid, Iowa took to burning some of the renowned Harry Potter books.

     The other book burning was in May 27, 2007, when the proprietors, Tom Wayne and W.E. Leatham took to burning part of the inventory of their used books store, Prospero's Books. These gentlemen did this to protest society's indifference to the printed word. Although they failed to obtain a permit from the Kansas City Fire Department, which interrupted the protest.


     There are many reasons for doing the act of burning books. Some books were written that included book burning. There have been movies made that included this act, the most recent being in 2004-” The Day after Tomorrow.” This was where a group of people burned books to avoid freezing to death, much to the horror of the librarian and another person.

     Ray Bradbury, the writer of “Fahrenheit 451,” said that reading about the Nazi book burning spurned him to write this story. He was also quoted saying “ It follows then that when Hitler burned a book I felt it as keenly, please forgive me, as his killing a human, for in the long sum of history they are one in the same flesh.”

    So this has ultimately been a part of our history. Down through the ages books have been burned. Will this be the end of book burning? Will someone be moved for one reason or another to burn books?

    Or will our own government one day step in and claim certain books are illegal. Going into peoples homes and confiscating them and publicly burning them. This is something every one of us should think about. For it is our creativity that could be eventually in jeopardy.

    I am glad that I took the time to read this wonderful book again, in which it spurned me to do some research. Not just on the author, but on the book he was compelled to write. I encourage anyone who hasn't read this book yet to do so, you will not be disappointed. Also just as an afterthought, please treasure those books in your library, and if you find that you have too many share them. There are some people out there that wish they had the ability to read, but for some reason perhaps blindness or going blind they cannot read.

  This is a comment from the man himself! (Curteously taken from Wikipedia)
*“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them” Ray Douglas Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer. Wikipedia

Text: Jennifer Burlock
Images: Google images
Publication Date: 07-15-2012

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