1. Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
The History of Book Burning

2. Fahrenheit 451
“A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind. Who knows who might be the target of a well-read man?” ~Beatty

3. Censorship
What is censorship? Jot down anything that comes to mind.

4. Censorship Definition
ˈsensərˌSHip/
noun
the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts.

5. Introductory Prompts
When do you think people first started burning books?
What motivates book burning?

6. Today, book burning is ceremonial
Book burners normally aren’t trying to destroy every copy of a book.
Expressing their objections to the material in a ritualized manner.
There HAVE been instances throughout history where material was destroyed
Destruction of the Library of Alexandria
Burning of books and burying scholars under China’s Quin Dynasty
Book burning by the Nazi Regime

7. Book Burning Through the Ages
Hand out Book Burning Through the Ages
Take a few minutes to look this over. Highlight a few you didn’t know about or surprise you.
What kinds of books do people tend to burn?

8. Burning Books Generally books that are burned:
Books that go against a belief system
Religious
Philosophical
Political

9. Burning Books Specifically books that are burned:
‘Incorrect’ versions or unsanctioned translations of religious texts
‘Heretical’ texts’
Holy texts of another religion
Books that go against the beliefs of a new political regime
Books that challenge the existing regime
Books that are considered lewd (vulgar)
Immoral
Inappropriate

10. What kinds of people burn books?
Generally:
Conquerors
Governments
Heads of State
Religious leaders/the Church
Revolutionary leaders
Anyone who adheres strongly to a certain ideal/philosophy/belief system

11. Why were these books burned?
They challenged:
‘Appropriate Beliefs
They threatened:
People in Power
They promoted:
‘Undesirable’ ideas

12. Nazi Book Burning On May 10, 1933 in Berlin… “The Burning of Books”
S.A. and Nazi youth groups burned almost 20,000 books
These were books from an early Sexology Research Centre, and books from the Humbolt University

13. Nazi Book Burning
They burned texts by Heinrich Heine, Thomas Mann, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, Jack London, Emile Zola, and H.G. Wells—to name a few.
Many authors were Jewish, Marxists or Bolsheviks

14. Nazi Book Burning Book - Goal
The goal of this ‘event’ was to rid Germany of any book that contained “unGerman ideas” and, therefore, was unfit to read. 
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, stated, “The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character” (qtd. in “May 10, 1933”). 

15. Nazi Book Burning - Reactions
The Nazis were pleased by the success of the burning.  Goebbels called it ‘a strong, great and symbolic action’ and stated that ‘spirits are awakening, oh, century; it is a joy to live!”
Goebbels did, however, instruct all German newspapers to minimize the event.
Countries around the world, including America and even China and Japan, were shocked by the occurrence.
There were protests all over America, and some news media called it a ‘bibliocaust’—i.e. a holocaust of books.

16. Ray Bradbury
Author and Activist

17. Ray Bradbury - American, born in Illinois
- He was influenced by science fiction heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
- He attributes his lifelong daily writing habit to the day in when a carnival entertainer, Mr. Electrico, touched him with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, "Live forever!" The following day, Mr. Electrico brought Bradbury behind the scenes of the carnival and discussed philosophy with him

18. Ray Bradbury
Bradbury once said in an interview that he does not like using computers when writing a book.
- Bradbury claims that the entirety of his novel was written in the basement of the UCLA library on a pay typewriter. His original intention in writing Fahrenheit 451 was to show his great love for books and libraries. He has often referred to Montag as an allusion to himself.

19. Fahrenheit 451 Context Introduction
When do you think the book might have been written?
- Considering yesterday’s discussion (Censorship, book burning), what do you think the author thought about his own society?
Ray Bradbury was an American. What do you know about American society in late 1940s and early 1950s?

20. The Invention of Television

21. Regular network broadcasting began in the United States in 1946, and television became common in American homes by the mid 1950s.
- The 1950’s is considered by some to be the ‘golden age’ of television.
- T.V. at that time became the dominant mass media
- In the early 50’s in America, young people often watched T.V. for more hours than they went to school. (Has this changed?)
- What was portrayed on T.V. was accepted as ‘normal.’ (Has this changed?)
- Birth of the sitcom

22. How does Bradbury treat television in Fahrenheit 451?
Consider what T.V. was like in the 1940s and 1950s. How did Bradbury envision the ‘future’ of television? In what ways was he correct?

23. The Cold War

24. A period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union (and their allies) from the mid 1940s until the early 1990s.
- U.S., Japan, Western Europe, and Canada vs. Eastern Europe and China
- Rivalry between superpowers lead to…
- Military coalitions
- Conflicts in ideology

25. Espionage
- Military, industrial, and technological developments
- Immense spending on defense
- A massive conventional and nuclear arms race
- Proxy wars (i.e. Korean war)

26. Senator Joseph McCarthy
Republican U.S. Senator from
He became notorious for unsubstantiated claims that there were Communists and Soviet spies throughout America and even in the U.S. government.
Communist beliefs were never illegal, but it was the popular belief that support of communism equated to treason.

27. Political Cartoon that coined “McCarthyism”

28. Video over the McCarthy Era

29. Brainstorm Consider what we’ve discussed today:
The impact of television
The Cold War
McCarthy era censorship and paranoia
Can you relate these issues to anything going on in the world today? Take 10 minutes to write down your ideas.

30. Science Fiction and Dystopian Fiction
Genre

31. Science Fiction Titles

32. “First of all, I don't write science fiction
“First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be around a long time—because it's a Greek myth, and myths have staying power.” –Ray Bradbury

33. Utopia
Write down your ideas of the best possible world

34. Dystopia
Now…write down your ideas for the worst possible world

35. Fahrenheit 451
Is Fahrenheit 451 Utopian or Dystopian?