Widener: Biography of a Library

by Matthew Battles

Wallace Stegner called its stacks "enchanted." Barbara Tuchman called it "my Archimedes bathtub, my burning bush." But to Thomas Wolfe, it was a place of "wilderment and despair." Since its opening in 1915, the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library has led a spirited life as Harvard's physical and, in a sense, its spiritual heart. Originally intended as the memorial to one man, it quickly grew into a symbol of the life of the mind with few equals...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674016688
• ISBN13: 9780674016682
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Widener Library
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.2" x 10.5"