The Library

A Fragile History

By: Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

A history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age

“Engaging [and] ambitious” (The Washington Post)

The history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident. In The Library, historians Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world’s great collections, trace the rise and fall of literary tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors committed in pursuit of rare manuscripts. In doing so, they reveal that while collections themselves are fragile, often falling into ruin within a few decades, the idea of the library has been remarkably resilient as each generation makes—and remakes—the institution anew. 

“The Library proves that truth is more intriguing than fiction…Full of charismatic individuals and astonishing facts.”―The Times (London)

Critic reviews

"What is a ‘library’? Is it a mute display of personal wealth and power, or of a humble devotion to God? A routine community resource, or a waste of taxpayers’ money? In The Library, we are led nimbly through the centuries, seeing how it has been all of these things and more, as the authors place on the shelf a cornucopia of bookish history."
—Judith Flanders, author of A Place for Everything

"A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched, of that extraordinary and enduring phenomenon: the library."—Richard Ovenden, University of Oxford

Woodworking inspiring

It is very informative and great listen as I build a Victorian Library for a client.

A Brief Intellectual History of the Western World

An enjoyable and intriguing book about books, how they have been collected, protected, stored, and displayed for centuries. It is also a history of how books have been destroyed through neglect, malice, and political expediency by various ideological regimes throughout history. This is an ideal book for the history lover as it is a journey through Western history starting from antiquity and coming through to contemporary history where yet again some people are forecasting the death of the book but this time due to new digital medias.

The authors made an interesting choice about the Library of Alexandria, due to the fact that much of the history of this library has been lost, along with the library itself - the authors do not dwell on this particular library but use its modern re-foundation as a jumping off point to discuss libraries around the world, their histories and challenges. At the end of the history the authors then bring their attention back to this new library in Alexandria and what libraries mean to the world civilizations that found and care for them.

Academic But So Interesting

So much deep history and information. It was never dry. The performer has such a soothing voice I had to make an effort to stay awake sometimes.

Amazing -- Deeply Intriguing

Absolutely fascinating book. This may be in the top 10 best books I've read in decades. I'm new to this subject of libraries… I would've thought this a boring, nerdy topic. But these two authors opened up whole new worlds of history -- European, American and global -- from the lens of the glories and travails of libraries over the past 2000 years. Great writing that is cleverly philosophical while also being practical, balanced and skillfully concise -- often quite funny too.

Excellent narration as well. The technical audio quality is a bit thin and pixelated, which is really not ideal. Yet the narrator's consistently calming, wise, grandfatherly voice is eventually addictive, as if you're listening to a favorite professor who has endless hours to share great stories with you.

I'm not usually this gushingly positive about a book, but this one was truly unique. I'm going to buy the hard cover too -- from a used bookstore, not from Mr Bezos -- just to add to my personal library, which the authors have inspired me to cherish and develop. Plus I'll be visiting my local libraries a lot more -- now that I know how these unsung miracles fit into human civilization, and the cosmos.

Highly recommend this title.

Stays on point

A well written history book. It was really interesting and informative but it's best feature was that it kept on point. Some history books can go off on tangents for too long, like biographies that get mired in all the details of WWII, but this book stayed focused on it's topic of books and libraries. Very good.