Book contents
- Feeding the Mind
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Feeding the Mind
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 1919
- 2 Feeding Bodies
- 3 Feeding the Mind
- 4 Knowledge Displaced
- 5 Books and Buildings
- 6 Who Were the Intellectuals?
- Epilogue: Beyond 1933
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Feeding the Mind
The Post-war Book Crisis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2023
- Feeding the Mind
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Feeding the Mind
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 1919
- 2 Feeding Bodies
- 3 Feeding the Mind
- 4 Knowledge Displaced
- 5 Books and Buildings
- 6 Who Were the Intellectuals?
- Epilogue: Beyond 1933
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Europe was affected by a book crisis in the aftermath of the Great War. Much specialist literature had not been received in institutions across Europe since 1914 or had been destroyed during the conflict and was then rendered prohibitively expensive due to soaring exchange rates. This chapter explores the organization of book relief. The supply of literature was seen as an emergency that required humanitarian assistance to address ‘intellectual hunger’. Intellectual relief of this sort demonstrated the prominence of the belief that the spread of knowledge was essential to the reconstitution of the Republic of Letters and the ultimate stabilization of European political life. While initial responses hinged on humanitarian assistance, the ultimate resolution of the book crisis depended upon the restoration of international exchange networks – many of which had been severed by the war – and which came to fruition around the mid-1920s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Feeding the MindHumanitarianism and the Reconstruction of European Intellectual Life, 1919–1933, pp. 86 - 119Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023