Talk:List of book-burning incidents/Archive 1

Omitted references in List of book burning incidents
I find it interesting that a widely reported and discussed book burning incident in Los Angeles around 13 years ago seems to have been comletely "sanitized" out of all media I can find that should refer to it -- an incident in which the L.A. School Board had various "un-pc" American Classics heaped up in a WalMart parking lot and burned by the LAFD (Los Angeles Fire Department). The video of this incident was shown on television news nationwide, and even appeared on the popular news talk show "The McLaughlin Group" -- although now it cannot be found even in their own archive. (I saw that show myself. It should be there.)

For what it's worth, it's not on youtube.

Anybody got a "take" on this little "oversight?" (I haven't seen an "information round-up" on this scale since a certain "outlawed" book on UFOs (that made reference to what are known as "the CARET documents") was publicly rounded up door-to-door by agents of the CIA around 1960. I also personally witnessed this round-up taking place in a  public library, plus there was a boy in my 3rd grade class whose father was confronted at gunpoint in his own house and ordered to surrender his copy of the book, which they knew he had because of a mail-order sales record the agents had searched.)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:558:6006:18:1C4D:2C9B:B949:56E9 (talk) 12:14, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Orphaned references in List of book burning incidents
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of List of book burning incidents's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "bio": From Norman Lindsay:  From Wilhelm Reich: Biography, The Wilhelm Reich Museum. Retrieved August 14, 2006. 

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 02:50, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Books burned unintentially during wars
Shouldn't bombings during WWII and other wars be excluded except when there are reliable sources which prove that the bombings/burnings were intentionally aimed against libraries. During many wars in history libraries were burned. Also every time a city, village or hamlet was burned down books in wartime, scrolls, parchments or other written sources were burned as well since the invention of writing and especially since the invention of book printing. The list could be theoretically very long. The article should be about intentional book burnings not consequential ones. SpeakFree (talk)


 * I agree with this. A family burning books in the winter to stay warm is not notable, and it was certainly not done as a political or religous statement. This article is already way too long and poorly organized. There is no reason to add trvial instances of book burnings. Primium mobile (talk) 22:58, 18 August 2011 (UTC)


 * For the cases you mention, destruction of libraries is more related. emijrp (talk) 18:00, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Incidents in the Bible
These incidents may or may not qualify for inclusion on the list. —Wavelength (talk) 20:47, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
 * http://multilingualbible.com/jeremiah/36-23.htm
 * http://multilingualbible.com/acts/19-19.htm

Orphaned references in List of book burning incidents
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of List of book burning incidents's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Salomon, H. P 2001 pp. 345-7": From Goa Inquisition: Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. ''The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536-1765'' (Brill, 2001), pp. 345-7. From Inquisition: Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. ''The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536-1765'' (Brill, 2001), Introduction pp. XXX. 

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 17:45, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Ibn Khaldun's quote on Arabs burning Persian books
Is unreliable per the discussion in reliable source noticeboard. Not to mention the translator of Ibn Khaldun's book has already discredited the story. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.73.16 (talk) 06:59, 18 November 2011 (UTC)


 * The translator has never discredited the story and your claim is factually incorrect and misleading. the only thing he said was that Ibn Khaldun's quote about book burning in persia is similar to that of Alexandria library and it doesn't necessarily mean the entire story is unreliable.Iranic (talk) 03:57, 20 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The translator of Ibn Khaldun's book, late Professor Franz Rosenthal, calls Ibn Khaldun's quote "variant of a legend". I believe the word "legend" is closer to "false" (and therefore discrediting) than "true" in the context of scientific literature. Perhaps a native speaker can help us with this matter.


 * Nevertheless, the discussion in the reliable source noticeboard is independent of whether or not what Rosenthal meant in the footnote.--69.232.66.127 (talk) 15:28, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Create a new list for unsuccessful cases
Is plausible? emijrp (talk) 17:58, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Their books were burned by Christian/European invaders.

It's interesting that it's not mentioned yet.--98.196.234.69 (talk) 23:59, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Section: The Talmud (at Paris), first of many such burnings over the next centuries
I'm trying to add references to the article and this section is causing a bit of concern for me. I have one reference:


 * Schoot, Henk, and Pim Valkenberg. "Thomas Aquinas And Judaism." Modern Theology 20.1 (2004): 51-70. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. It gives the following:

"The friars exacerbated the economic and political pressure felt by Jews during this time. Apparently they considered the abiding presence of Jewish communities to be a challenge for Christian society. Their growing knowledge of the rabbinical tradition, made it clear to them that the rabbinical tradition, as they discovered it in the Talmud, had developed in opposition to Christian views and interpretations. Here they encountered stories they considered to be fables—e.g., stories about how to avoid the angel of death or accounts of demons, but also sexual tales deemed inadmissible, involving Noah and Cham, or Samson. Here they also encountered anthropomorphic language about God they considered blasphemous—God roaring like a lion three times at night, or playing with Leviathan are but two examples. Most disturbing of all, they encountered liberal interpretations of commandments in the Torah, 'mockery of Jesus Christ, and the proffered admissibility of lying to and cheating of Gentiles." [bold text mine]

I think it could be a (possibly thin) verification of Christian attitudes toward the Talmud, but I'm hesitant to add it when the section as written takes this as direct cause of the Talmud being burned, which the article cited does not claim. Also, the section moves on to several popes ordering Jewish writings burned, but cites no references for any. I'm wary of adding {vn} tags to all of them and look like I'm stirring up controversy, so thought I'd offer it up for opinion before I moved on it. Thanks, --some jerk on the Internet    (talk)  16:25, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

There is a discrepancy with the year the burning actually occurred. In "Disputation of Paris" (Disputation_of_Paris) the date is 1242. Can anyone confirm? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.83.193.102 (talk) 21:29, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Match held to climate change book
I have posted a paragraph about an incident that very much epitomizes the attitude expressed by most book burners: to silence and vilify those who hold contrary views. The incident was two climate science professors holding a match to a book that disagrees with their position on global warming. Many American academics are some of the loudest proponents of free expression, so this incident is doubly extra ironic. Certainly an incident that embarasses some people. Some editors have removed this paragraph. I gently ask for reasons why this incident should not be included.Pete unseth (talk) 21:13, 28 June 2013 (UTC)


 * A fellow-editor has objected to including the incident of a mock book-burning incident on an American campus, "This incident is simply not important enough to be here. No books were even burned." Let's remember that book burnings have often not been primarily about destroying the physical books. If that was the only purpose, they could have used them for fuel in furnaces and made the fires useful. The big point of a public book burning has been to vilify and repudiate the books' contents. Since the repudiation of books is often the real focus, this incident from San Jose State is a pretty clear case of using fire to vilify and repudiate a book expressing a contrarian view, and posting it on the campus website made it a very public vilification of the book. And the fact that a mock book burning was done by American academics on a campus, the bastion of all kinds of free speech, this incident is actually a more spectacular case of quashing free speech and open inquiry than some of the ones that are included. When American academics demonstrate their contempt for a contrary viewpoint by mocking a book burning, this deserves inclusion. As far as lacking the actual burning of books, the "Non-approved Bibles, books and music in Canton, North Carolina" incident also did not involve the actual burning of books, but it rightly deserves to be mentioned. I am neither opposing nor supporting either the book in question or the professors, I only state that this incident deserves to be included. Whether any of us agree with the book or the professors is not relevant. Pete unseth (talk) 00:44, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Books of Ellen G. White
In 2012, Cristian Silva burn all books of Ellen G. White http://mensajetresangeles.blogspot.it/2012/04/quema-de-libros-de-elena-gwhite-por.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.2.64.5 (talk) 18:40, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

Chinese philosophy books – servant or serpant
An unregistered user has changed servant or serpant in the quotation from Li Si. I assumed good faith and looked it up. "Confucianism: An Introduction" by Ronnie L. Littlejohn has servant, so I will revert the edit. Verbcatcher (talk) 15:03, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Destruction of the archives of the Kingdom of Naples
Mention of this act of vandalism by German SS units is missing. (My impression that this was done as a spontaneous act of petty vengeance, inasmuch as the Italians had a few weeks prior to the act surrendered to the Allies -- if not in response to the Four days of Naples -- & the SS happened on the local authorities transporting the records to a place where they believed the records would be safe.) I could chase down an article I read about this in a few months ago if needed. -- llywrch (talk) 20:23, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

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Public book burnings versus more routine incidents
A list article should define the criteria for inclusion in the list.

In this case there should at least be some distinction between public book burnings, targeted destruction of libraries, and other such "classic" book destruction scenarios, and situations where burning is done more casually for some other reasons. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.149.246.232 (talk) 16:35, 13 December 2019 (UTC)
 * The destruction of books incidental to other events, such as the sacking of a city or bombing during wartime, is not the same as the deliberate public burning of books. This list article should be drastically edited to remove the former, leaving only the latter, deliberate acts based on ideology. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:41, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I have removed incidental book and library destruction incidents from the article, leaving only ideologically-based public book burnings. Much of the material I removed could easily fill new list articles, such as "List of library-destruction incidents" or "List of book censorship incidents", they are simply not what is generally understood to be a book burning, the ideologically-based public burning of books. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:41, 6 March 2021 (UTC)