1. Fahrenheit 451(1953) By Ray Bradbury Author Bio
History of Book Burning
Major Themes of the Book
Parallel Themes with Animal Farm

2. Author Biography: Ray Bradbury
Born in Waukegan, IL in 1920
As a boy, loved circuses and magicians; Halloween; fantasy stories (Buck Rogers, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Oz)
First writing success in sci-fi genre: short story published in 1941 at age of 21

3. Ray Bradbury (con’t)
By 1960’s, moved away from sci-fi to horror and other genres
Nominated or won numerous sci-fi and short story awards; came up with “Spaceship Earth” metaphor for Disney World; several of his stories made into movies
Other popular works: The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)

4. The History of Book Burning
“Where they burn books, they will end with burning human beings.”
---German writer Heinrich Heine, from his play Almansor (1821) (referring to the burning of the Quran during the Spanish Inquisition)
History of Book Burning and pictures from Wikipedia, September 29, 2007 (

5. History of Book Burning (con’t)
Dramatic symbol of righteousness and censorship
Goes back to ancient times; burned for religious and social reasons
Early Christian texts burned by Roman authorities; non-Christian texts burned by Catholic authorities

6. History of Book Burning (con’t)
1873: Comstock’s New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
Destroyed 15 tons of books, four million pictures

7. History of Book Burning (con’t)
1842, Paris, France: books written in new braille code burned by school for the blind
1917, Russia: Anti-Communist books burned
1930’s Nazi Germany: 18,000 works deemed “degenerate” (Jewish or not pro-Nazi) were destroyed rally burned 20,000 books.

8. History of Book Burning (con’t)
1948, Binghamton, NY: comic books burned
1953: Sen. McCarthy recommended removal of pro-Communist books from libraries; several libraries burned them
In modern times, phonograph records, CDs, VHS tapes and DVDs are sometimes also burned as form of public protest
Now, censorship is usually more subtle: “they don’t gotta burn the books they just remove ‘em” (Rage Against the Machine, “Bulls on Parade” [1996])

9. Major Themes in Novel Censorship Dystopia vs. Utopia:
Utopia: optimistic; “good” technology; humankind lives freely in peace and prosperity
Dystopia: pessimistic; “bad” technology; humankind lives in oppressive and restricted environment
Are heroes made from inherent ideals or circumstances?

10. Parallel Themes with Animal Farm
The changing of history
The importance of literacy
The power of government over its people
Is ignorance bliss?