'Rich, authoritative and highly readable, Andrew Pettegree's tour de force will appeal to anyone for whom, whatever the circumstances, books are an abiding, indispensable part of life.' David Kynaston Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have all too often found themselves on the frontline. In The Book at War, acclaimed historian Andrew Pettegree traces the surprising ways in which written culture - from travel guides and scientific papers to Biggles and Anne Frank - has shaped, and been shaped, by the conflicts of the modern age. From the American Civil War to the invasion of Ukraine, books, authors and readers have gone to war - and in the process become both deadly weapons and our most persuasive arguments for peace.

LONGLISTED FOR THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWN A SUNDAY TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Timely ... a long and engrossing survey of the library' FT 'A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched' Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident. In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library, from the famous collections of the ancient world to the embattled public resources we cherish today. Along the way, they introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world's great collections, trace the rise and fall of fashions and tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanours committed in pursuit of rare and valuable manuscripts.

This beautifully illustrated book is the most ambitious one-volume survey of the Reformation yet. A timely and much-needed account, it looks at every aspect of the Reformation world and considers new historical research which has led to the expansion of the subject both thematically and geographically. The strength of The Reformation World is its breadth and originality, with material drawn from many different countries, including archival material only recently made available to scholars in central Europe.

Topics included are:

* the Church before the Reformation
* Luther and Germany
* the Reformation outside Germany
* Calvinism and the Second Reformation
* the Reformation and society
* arts and architecture
* the printed book and visual media.

In the generation that followed Martin Luther's protest, the evangelical movement in Europe attracted very different levels of support in different parts of the continent. Whereas in Germany, eastern and central Europe the new movement brought a swift transformation of the religious and political landscape, progress elsewhere was more halting: both in the Mediterranean lands and the new nation states of western Europe, initial enthusiasm for reform by and large failed to bring about the wholesale renovation of society for which evangelicals had hoped. These fascinating contrasts are the main focus of this volume of specifically commissioned essays, each of which charts the progress of reform in one country or region of Europe. Written in each case by a leading specialist in the field, they make available in English for the first time an up-to-date survey based on primary research and a thorough grasp of the vernacular literature. For both scholars and students they are intended to be a valuable guide to recent debates and literature on the success or failure of the first generation of reform.

This study examines the impact of the first major influx of foreign refugees into Britain--the Protestant exiles of the Reformation era who came to escape persecution by the Catholic powers in France and the Low Countries. The refugees were generally well received by an English government that was aware of their economic potential. They came to exercise a powerful influence over the Reformation at home and abroad and provided a significant economic structure for a flagging economy.

The evangelical challenge of the 16th century was one of the seminal events of the last half millennium. In the course of a single century of religious discord, an integrated society of believers with shared values and common social and intellectual assumptions evolved into a continent divided by fundamental differences of belief, mentality, and religious practice. These divisions cut across existing hierarchies, national boundaries and social class. Few aspects of 16th century life were left untouched; the impact of the Reformation disputes would be enduring, shaping critical aspects of modern European society and reaching out, with the European conquests, to Asia and the Americas. In the past two decades, study of the Reformation has continued to develop and evolve. The dissolution of the European post-war settlement in 1989 has permitted, in particular, the rediscovery of cultural and political points of contact across areas of central Europe previously obscured by the divisions of the late 20th century. It is now gradually emerging that the Reformation was in many respects more successful looking eastward, than west.This collection reflects both the classic building blocks of Reformation history, such as the writings of Luther and Calvin, and also the new historiography which has emerged in recent years. The material is organized so as to explore the thematic complexities of this all-encompassing movement, whilst giving due weight to developments in different parts of Europe including France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, England and Scotland.

This study comprises the proceedings of a conference held in St Andrews in 1999 which gathered some of the most distinguished historians of the French book. It presents the 16th-century book in a new context and provides the first comprehensive view of this absorbing field. Four major themes are reflected here: the relationship between the manuscript tradition and the printed book; an exploration of the variety of genres that emerged in the 16th century and how they were used; a look at publishing and book-selling strategies and networks, and the ways in which the authorities tried to control these; and a discussion of the way in which confessional literature diverged and converged. The range of specialist knowledge embedded in this study will ensure its appeal to specialists in French history, scholars of the book and of 16th-century French literature, and historians of religion.

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is an annual collection of major articles based on papers given to the society by distinguished invited speakers, and by winners of the Society's prizes. Volume 25 of the sixth series includes the following articles: 'Presidential Address: Educating the Nation: II. Universities', 'Apocalyptic and Eschatological Thought in England around the Year 1000', 'Minding their Own Business: Married Women and Credit in Early Eighteenth-Century London', 'Making History Online', 'Richard Wagner and the German Nation', 'Traitors and the Meaning of Treason in Austria-Hungary's Great War', 'The Uses of Foreigners in Mao-Era China: 'Techniques of Hospitality' and International Image-Building in the People's Republic, 1949-76', ''Cramped and Restricted at Home'? Scottish Separatism at Empire's End', and ''Beamed Directly to the Children': School Broadcasting and Sex Education in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s'.

The untold story of how the Dutch conquered the European book market and became the world's greatest bibliophiles The Dutch Golden Age has long been seen as the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose paintings captured the public imagination and came to represent the marvel that was the Dutch Republic. Yet there is another, largely overlooked marvel in the Dutch world of the seventeenth century: books. In this fascinating account, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen show how the Dutch produced many more books than pictures and bought and owned more books per capita than any other part of Europe. Key innovations in marketing, book auctions, and newspaper advertising brought stability to a market where elsewhere publishers faced bankruptcy, and created a population uniquely well-informed and politically engaged. This book tells for the first time the remarkable story of the Dutch conquest of the European book world and shows the true extent to which these pious, prosperous, quarrelsome, and generous people were shaped by what they read.

Why did people choose the Reformation? What was it in the evangelical teaching that excited, moved or persuaded them? Andrew Pettegree here tackles these questions directly by re-examining the reasons that moved millions to this decisive and traumatic break with a shared Christian past. He charts the separation from family, friends, and workmates that adherence to the new faith often entailed and the new solidarities that emerged in their place. He explores the different media of conversion through which the Reformation message was communicated and imbibed - the role of drama, sermons, song and the book - and argues that the potency of print can only be understood as working in harmony with more traditional modes of communication. His findings offer a persuasive new answer to the critical question of how the Reformation could succeed as a mass movement in an age before mass literacy.

A revolutionary look at Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the birth of publishing, on the eve of the Reformation's 500th anniversary When Martin Luther posted his "theses" on the door of the Wittenberg church in 1517, protesting corrupt practices, he was virtually unknown. Within months, his ideas spread across Germany, then all of Europe; within years, their author was not just famous, but infamous, responsible for catalyzing the violent wave of religious reform that would come to be known as the Protestant Reformation and engulfing Europe in decades of bloody war. Luther came of age with the printing press, and the path to glory of neither one was obvious to the casual observer of the time. Printing was, and is, a risky business--the questions were how to know how much to print and how to get there before the competition. Pettegree illustrates Luther's great gifts not simply as a theologian, but as a communicator, indeed, as the world's first mass-media figure, its first brand. He recognized in printing the power of pamphlets, written in the colloquial German of everyday people, to win the battle of ideas. But that wasn't enough--not just words, but the medium itself was the message. Fatefully, Luther had a partner in the form of artist and businessman Lucas Cranach, who together with Wittenberg's printers created the distinctive look of Luther's pamphlets. Together, Luther and Cranach created a product that spread like wildfire--it was both incredibly successful and widely imitated. Soon Germany was overwhelmed by a blizzard of pamphlets, with Wittenberg at its heart; the Reformation itself would blaze on for more than a hundred years. Publishing in advance of the Reformation's 500th anniversary, Brand Luther fuses the history of religion, of printing, and of capitalism--the literal marketplace of ideas--into one enthralling story, revolutionizing our understanding of one of the pivotal figures and eras in human history. From the Hardcover edition.

This beautifully illustrated book is the most ambitious one-volume survey of the Reformation yet attempted. A timely and much-needed account, it looks at every aspect of the Reformation world and considers new historical research which has led to the expansion of the subject both thematically and geographically. The strength of The Reformation World is its breadth and originality, with material drawn from many different countries, including archival material only recently made available to scholars in central Europe. Topics included are:
* the Church before the Reformation
* Luther and Germany
* the Reformation outside Germany
* Calvinism and the Second Reformation
* the Reformation and society
* arts and architecture
* the printed book and visual media.

Calvinism was the most dynamic and disruptive religious force of the later sixteenth century. Its emergence on the international scene shattered the precarious equilibrium established in the first generation of the Reformation, and precipitated three generations of religious warfare. This collection of essays probes different aspects of this complex phenomenon at a local level. Contributors present the results of their detailed work on societies as diverse as France, Germany, Highland Scotland and Hungary. Among wider themes approached are the impact of Calvin's writings, Calvinism in higher education, the contrasting fates of reformed preachers in town and country, Calvinist discipline and apocalyptic thought, and the shadowy affinity of merchants and scholars who formed a critical part of the 'Calvinist International'.

The Reformation was an international movement, but at the same time it achieved strikingly different levels of success in different parts of Europe. The Early Reformation in Europe explores these contrasts and comparisons through a series of specially commissioned essays by leading specialists in European history. These will serve both as a lucid and clearly written introduction to the Reformation in different parts of Europe, and as an introduction to recent debates on the success and failure of the movement as a whole.

The German town of Emden was, in the sixteenth century, the most important haven for exiled Dutch Protestants. In this book, based on unrivalled knowledge of the contemporary archives, Andrew Pettegree explores the role of Emden as a refuge, a training centre and, above all, as the major source of Dutch Protestant propaganda. He also provides a unique and invaluable reconstruction of the output of Emden's famous printing presses. The emergence of an independent state in the Netherlands was accompanied by a transformation in the status of Protestantism from a persecuted sect to the dominant religious force in the new Dutch republic. Dr Pettegree shows how the exile churches, the nurseries of Dutch Calvinism, provided military and financial support for the armies of William of Orange and models of church organization for the new state. Emden and the Dutch Revolt is a major scholarly contribution to our understanding of the origins of the Dutch Republic and the place of Calvinism in the European Reformation.

Why did people choose the Reformation? What was it in the evangelical teaching that excited, moved or persuaded them? Andrew Pettegree here tackles these questions directly by re-examining the reasons that moved millions to this decisive and traumatic break with a shared Christian past. He charts the separation from family, friends, and workmates that adherence to the new faith often entailed and the new solidarities that emerged in their place. He explores the different media of conversion through which the Reformation message was communicated and imbibed - the role of drama, sermons, song and the book - and argues that the potency of print can only be understood as working in harmony with more traditional modes of communication. His findings offer a persuasive new answer to the critical question of how the Reformation could succeed as a mass movement in an age before mass literacy.

A groundbreaking study of the fascinating, yet largely unknown world of books in the first great age of print, 1450-1600 The dawn of print was a major turning point in the early modern world. It rescued ancient learning from obscurity, transformed knowledge of the natural and physical world, and brought the thrill of book ownership to the masses. But, as Andrew Pettegree reveals in this work of great historical merit, the story of the post-Gutenberg world was rather more complicated than we have often come to believe. The Book in the Renaissance reconstructs the first 150 years of the world of print, exploring the complex web of religious, economic, and cultural concerns surrounding the printed word. From its very beginnings, the printed book had to straddle financial and religious imperatives, as well as the very different requirements and constraints of the many countries who embraced it, and, as Pettegree argues, the process was far from a runaway success. More than ideas, the success or failure of books depended upon patrons and markets, precarious strategies and the thwarting of piracy, and the ebb and flow of popular demand. Owing to his state-of-the-art and highly detailed research, Pettegree crafts an authoritative, lucid, and truly pioneering work of cultural history about a major development in the evolution of European society.

The extraordinary history of news and its dissemination, from medieval pilgrim tales to the birth of the newspaper Long before the invention of printing, let alone the availability of a daily newspaper, people desired to be informed. In the pre-industrial era news was gathered and shared through conversation and gossip, civic ceremony, celebration, sermons, and proclamations. The age of print brought pamphlets, edicts, ballads, journals, and the first news-sheets, expanding the news community from local to worldwide. This groundbreaking book tracks the history of news in ten countries over the course of four centuries. It evaluates the unexpected variety of ways in which information was transmitted in the premodern world as well as the impact of expanding news media on contemporary events and the lives of an ever-more-informed public. Andrew Pettegree investigates who controlled the news and who reported it; the use of news as a tool of political protest and religious reform; issues of privacy and titillation; the persistent need for news to be current and journalists trustworthy; and people's changed sense of themselves as they experienced newly opened windows on the world. By the close of the eighteenth century, Pettegree concludes, transmission of news had become so efficient and widespread that European citizens-now aware of wars, revolutions, crime, disasters, scandals, and other events-were poised to emerge as actors in the great events unfolding around them.

Throughout the sixteenth century, political and intellectual developments in Britain and The Netherlands were closely intertwined. At different times religious refugees from one or other country found a secure haven across the Channel, and a constant interchange of books, ideas and personnel underscored the affinity of lands which both made a painful progress towards Protestantism during the course of the century. This collection of ten new studies, all by specialists active in the field, explores the full ramifications of these links, from the first intellectual contacts inspired by the growth of Humanism to the planting of established Protestant churches. With contributions from specialists in art history, literary studies and history, the volume also underscores the vitality of new research in this field and points the way to several new departures in the field of Reformation and Renaissance studies.