The New Book Burning

A brave and bland world cometh from the ashes of the old one.

“It was a pleasure to burn.”

So begins Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” What follows is a vivid spectacle of destruction that introduces readers to Guy Montag, a “fireman” whose job it is to incinerate literature in the service of a regime that strictly prohibits and discourages the reading of books. Montag sleeps at night wearing a “fiery smile” in the…