THIS OCTOBER WE'LL BE HEADING ACROSS ST ANDREWS TO PARLIAMENT HALL, WHERE CO-AUTHOR OF TOPPING AND COMPANY FAVOURITES _THE LIBRARY_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/arthur-der-weduwen-and-andrew-pettegree/the-library/9781788163439/] AND _THE BOOKSHOP OF THE WORLD_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/andrew-pettegree-and-arthur-der-weduwen/the-bookshop-of-the-world/9780300254792/], PROFESSOR ANDREW PETTEGREE, JOINS US TO DISCUSS HIS NEWEST FASCINATING HISTORY, _THE BOOK AT WAR_.
Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have all too often found themselves on the frontline. In _The Book at War_, acclaimed historian Andrew Pettegree traces the surprising ways in which written culture - from travel guides and scientific papers to Biggles and Anne Frank - has shaped, and been shaped, by the conflicts of the modern age. From the American Civil War to the invasion of Ukraine, books, authors and readers have gone to war - and in the process become both deadly weapons and our most persuasive arguments for peace.
Andrew Pettegree, FBA, is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews. He is the co-author of _The Library: A Fragile History_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/arthur-der-weduwen-and-andrew-pettegree/the-library/9781788163439/], and the prize-winning _The Book in the Renaissance_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/andrew-pettegree/the-book-in-the-renaissance/9780300178210/] and _The Invention of News_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/andrew-pettegree/the-invention-of-news/9780300212761/]. He is a former Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society and founding director of the Universal Short Title Catalogue.