Answer:
The best answer to the question: What are the "tatters and charcoal ruins of history? would be: the books and any such written texts, that had by now been prohibited and were considered useless and even hateful. These were the ruins of written history and they were left in tatters because they were always burned.
Step-by-step explanation:
"Farenheit 451" is the novel that was written by Ray Bradbury and which was published in 1953. The story narrates the life of Guy Montag, a firefighter who has to perform his duty, like everyone else, of exterminating literature and all other kinds of writting, that are present in books. In order to do this, Montag, and his colleagues go to different places where books might be present, and instead of putting out fires, fire them to burn books. In this particular excerpt, which is part of the very opening of the novel, the main character is talking about books themselves, and how they were seen as an evil thing that needed to be destroyed, as they were deemed useless. History, and knowledge, says the novel, was now given through other types of media.