BOOK MARK
UH associate professor reveals perils of 'libricide'

"Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century" by Rebecca Knuth; Praeger Publishers, hardback, $39.95

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

To those of us who consider turning over the page of a book to mark your place is anathema, the idea of burning down or trashing an entire library is simply unimaginable. But this act — which she has termed "libricide" — is the subject of this study by Rebecca Knuth, University of Hawai'i associate professor of library and information science.

And in it, Knuth quickly moves the reader beyond the simple emotional reaction of horror to the much more important consideration of why these events occur, and how they can be better understood and so prevented.

In scholarly but clear and undaunting prose (the book, she writes, is aimed at scholars and "intelligent people in general," particularly book lovers), Knuth presents five revealing case studies of libricide. These range from from the well-known destruction of Jewish materials by the Nazis during World War II (and also German and English publications) to the ongoing and deliberate eradication of Tibetan texts by Chinese Communists in that country. She argues that this is not only a relatively common phenomenon but one that follows identifiable patterns.

She concludes with an assertion that applies to books and libraries an idea that has previously been applied to religions, cultures and groups of people: So long as one book, or one area of study or intellectual pursuit is endangered by a totalitarian regime or dogmatic force, the broad community of ideas is endangered.