# HISTSCI 1980: Burning Books, Fighting Facts: How Individuals & Institutions Resist, Reject, and Destroy Knowledge Semester: Fall | Year offered: 2026 | Link: [Course Website](https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/170023) With Professor Naomi Oreskes on Monday and Wednesday at 12:00-1:15 pm Alternative facts, fake news, disinformation, propaganda. We live in a world where even the most basic factual claims—from the reality of anthropogenic climate change to who won the 2020 Presidential election—are disputed. But while this state of affairs may seem shocking, it is not entirely new: there is a long history of scientific (and other factual) claims coming under attack for political, social, economic, and ideological reasons. Yet, it feels as if things have of late become worse. In this course, we will examine the history of attempts to deny and destroy knowledge, the various motivations for it, the various means people have used to obstruct knowledge, and whether the current moment is exceptional in this regard, or not. --- [### Naomi Oreskes ](/people/naomi-oreskes) Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences ON LEAVE SPRING 2026 Primary Areas of Research: Agnotology; the Political Economy of Scientific Knowledge; History and Philosophy of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Science and Technology Studies (STS); the History of Climate Change Disinformation Secondary Areas of... ![Naomi Oreskes](/sites/g/files/omnuum9516/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hos/files/naomi_oreskes.jpg?itok=Wv6gFtmR)