Conflict and Enlightenment
Print and Political Culture in Europe, 1635–1795

This novel study of political culture in Enlightenment Europe analyses print, public opinion and the transnational dissemination of texts.

Thomas Munck (Author)

9780521701808, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 November 2019

378 pages, 1 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'Munck skilfully combines observation and classification at the meta level, and presents the interaction between political events and the production, distribution, and reception of print media, whose format allowed them to adapt to different political conditions.' Christine Haug, German Historical Institute London Bulletin

New approaches to the history of print have allowed historians of early modern Europe to re-evaluate major shifts in religious, intellectual, cultural and political life across Europe. Drawing on precise and detailed study of the contexts of different types of print, including books, pamphlets, newspapers and flysheets, combined with quantitative analysis and a study of texts as material objects, Thomas Munck offers a transformed picture of early modern political culture, and through analysis of new styles and genres of writing he offers a fresh perspective on the intended readership. Conflict and Enlightenment uses a resolutely comparative approach to re-examine what was being disseminated in print, and how. By mapping the transmission of texts across cultural and linguistic divides, Munck reveals how far new forms of political discourse varied depending on the particular perspectives of authors, readers and regulatory authorities, as well as the cultural adaptability of translators and sponsors.

Introduction
1. Print, production, authors and readers
2. Instability and politicisation (1630–77)
3. Subversive print in the early Enlightenment
4. Translation and transmission across cultural borders
5. High enlightenment, political texts and reform (1748–89)
6. Revolution: democracy and loyalism in print (1789–95)
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]