The libraries a troubled history

Overview of the book Libraries: A Turbulent History - Matthew Battles: a book that narrates the story of the emergence of libraries historically starting from the early libraries that preserved clay tablets in Mesopotamia then in China and during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, and the transformations that occurred in the form of books from writing on clay and scrolls and manuscripts ending with digital discs. The story of libraries begins, in one way or another, in the city of Alexandria around 283 BC, when Alexander the Great founded the Library of Alexandria, which was expanded by inspecting all ships docked in the city’s port, confiscating all the books they carried for copying before returning them to their owners. Throughout ages, libraries have not only collected and preserved knowledge but also shaped knowledge. In this book, Battles, a former rare books librarian, takes us from Boston to Baghdad, from classical copies to medieval monasteries and the information age; to explore how libraries were built and how they were destroyed, from the burning of manuscripts in ancient China, to the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia, up to the latest revolutionary upheavals in the digital age.