Ray Bradbury, the author of "Fahrenheit 451" said,
You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture, all you have to do is get people to stop reading them.
In Nazi Germany, Hitler ordered his SS men to burn books that did not support the ideology of the Germany of the late 30s and early 40s. In this way, history was virtually erased, and the recordings of the German heart burned with the books. Likewise, the futuristic society of Bradbury's novel reflects the author's concerns about censorship and conformity, two very relevant concerns today. Bradbury's work is a social criticism of the cultural decline in an America that is more concerned with consumerism than free expression of thought and the preservation of ideas. Indeed, "Fahrenheit 451" is very significant as a novel to cause its readers to reflect on the dangers of restrictions on free speech and ignorance of one's cultural history.
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