An Incendiary Read

Susan Orlean investigates a mysterious library fire in her latest work of nonfiction

- Sam Jenkins

ON APRIL 29 , 1986, THE Central Library of Los Angeles, a landmark building in the heart of downtown, caught fire. Hundreds of thousands of books were destroyed, and the librarians and loyal patrons were left to pick up the pieces. To this day, it is the largest library fire in American history.

Susan Orlean—New Yorker staff writer and author of 10 works, including the bestseller The Orchid Thief—chronicles this tragedy in The Library Book, published by Simon & Schuster. The project was a labor of love for Orlean, who, as a child, spent many hours in the stacks of her local library in Cleveland. Despite a lifelong passion for reading and the arts (Orlean studied literature and history at the University of Michigan), she didn’t discover the story of the L.A. fire until 2011, after moving there with her husband and young son.