Print and Public Politics in the English Revolution
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:10th Mar '16
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This book assesses how print culture transformed the political nation, at the level of everyday political practices, habits and thought.
Jason Peacey's study reassesses the communications revolution of the seventeenth century, demonstrating how new media - from ballads to pamphlets and newspapers - transformed the public's ability to understand and take part in national political life. This ultimately involved experience-led attempts to rethink the nature of representation and accountability.This is a major reassessment of the communications revolution of the seventeenth century. Using a wealth of archival evidence and the considerable output of the press, Jason Peacey demonstrates how new media - from ballads to pamphlets and newspapers - transformed the English public's ability to understand and participate in national political life. He analyses how contemporaries responded to political events as consumers of print; explores what they were able to learn about national politics; and examines how they developed the ability to appropriate a variety of print genres in order to participate in novel ways. Amid structural change and conjunctural upheaval, he argues that there occurred a dramatic re-shaping of the political nation, as citizens from all walks of life developed new habits and practices for engaging in daily political life, and for protecting and advancing their interests. This ultimately involved experience-led attempts to rethink the nature of representation and accountability.
'Peacey makes his argument with a staggering array of sources and helps to evolve new ways of unerstanding the complexities in the interaction between what we used to call 'high' and 'low' politics.' History Today
'Peacey's excellent new book provides a rich, complementary counterpoint to his earlier study, focusing on the role of print in the revolutionary expansion of popular political participation.' Alastair Bellany, Journal of British Studies
ISBN: 9781107622494
Dimensions: 230mm x 153mm x 25mm
Weight: 690g
472 pages