The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree

 

A nonfiction book about how books and libraries survive (or maybe mostly don't) war, about how books are in many instances less glamorous than artworks, less dramatic, more targeted for destruction when the destruction of a culture is part (or most) of the goal; it's also about how books reflect what wars are about, how they shape the soldiers at the front and the people away from it. The Nazis, of course, come in for the majority of villainization, here, but they aren't the only ones to destroy or steal books; and they had and/or were built on a real literary culture--several of the Very High Nazis at least fancied themselves to be authors, and Germany had a lot of books in a lot of libraries before World War 2. The Soviets also treasured books, knew how they could work to shape society in ways contrary to the desires of the government. Both the Nazis and the Soviets destroyed books and libraries specifically to eliminate all traces of things they didn't want, and both made sure many books were published and sold that reflected what they valued. At a bit over 400 pages, this is obviously very much an overview, but it's reasonably well-written and was definitely worth bringing with me on vacation.