She reviews the police files, studies the physics of fire and the investigation of arson while at the same time referencing the history of library fires. Orlean was fascinated and launched her own investigation into the fire. When Susan Orlean, a writer and journalist with ‘The New Yorker,’ moved to Los Angeles in 2011, this crime was still unresolved: how did the fire start? Was it set deliberately and if so, why would someone want to burn down a library?

The people of Los Angeles were distraught because they loved their library. It became the biggest library fire in American history: it raged for more than seven hours, destroying more than 400,000 books and badly damaging the building. 'A book lover's dream.an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories' (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean's thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books-and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.On the morning of 29 April 1986 a fire broke out in Los Angeles Public Library. ) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives delves into the evolution of libraries brings each department of the library to vivid life studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. In the 'exquisitely written, consistently entertaining' (The Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter andīestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a 'delightful.reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America' (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library-and if so, who? By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours.

On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. 'Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book' (The Washington Post). Notable Book is 'a sheer delight.as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library' (USA TODAY)-a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries.

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