The Information Revolution in Early Modern Europe
Part of New Approaches to European History
- Author: Paul M. Dover, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
- Date Published: October 2021
- availability: In stock
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316602034
Paperback
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This provocative new history of early modern Europe argues that changes in the generation, preservation and circulation of information, chiefly on newly available and affordable paper, constituted an 'information revolution'. In commerce, finance, statecraft, scholarly life, science, and communication, early modern Europeans were compelled to place a new premium on information management. These developments had a profound and transformative impact on European life. The huge expansion in paper records and the accompanying efforts to store, share, organize and taxonomize them are intertwined with many of the essential developments in the early modern period, including the rise of the state, the Print Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, and the Republic of Letters. Engaging with historical questions across many fields of human activity, Paul M. Dover interprets the historical significance of this 'information revolution' for the present day, and suggests thought-provoking parallels with the informational challenges of the digital age.
Read more- Introduces an important new meta-theme which will encourage a rethinking of many of the fundamental developments of early modern Europe
- Surveys early modern Europe's 'information revolution' as paper and the information written on it became central to European political, social, cultural and economic life
- Translates the historical significance of the book's central themes of information and information management for the present day
Reviews & endorsements
'This engaging synthesis tracks an 'information revolution' across early modern European culture, from commerce and politics to many fields of learning and genres of personal writing. More than printing it was paper that fuelled both the explosion of information and many practices of managing it that have proved remarkably enduring.' Ann Blair, Harvard University
See more reviews'Words and numbers, scrawled by ink-black fingers on the milled remains of rags, became a promise never quite fulfilled: to forget nothing and to make rational decisions based on 'information.' Paul Dover's entertaining book shows how necessary it is to understand this history.' Arndt Brendecke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
'Dover brings together a dizzying array of recent scholarship on information in early Europe - from the business of paper mills to scientists' data collection, from dusty state archives to flaming pamphlet wars. His analysis of information revolution during the age of paper offers insights for the present on every page.' Randolph C. Head, University of California, Riverside
'Paul Dover's brilliant and erudite book traces the origins of our modern information society, and how it grew in a world of scholars, administrators, lawyers, merchants, and archivists. Before computers, there was a revolution in the uses of paper, and, with all its glory and pitfalls, Dover shows how it worked and created the foundations of our own very complicated modern information world. His learned and entertaining work is a must read for all those interested in information, computing, the news, and the history of communication.' Jacob Soll, University of Southern California
'With this book, Dover unveils a very important aspect of early modern history, making it invaluable to all major libraries. … Essential.' D. L. Tengwall, CHOICE
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×Product details
- Date Published: October 2021
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316602034
- length: 270 pages
- dimensions: 228 x 152 x 20 mm
- weight: 0.53kg
- availability: In stock
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: worlds of paper
2. European paper
3. 'Ink-Stained fingers': the information of commerce and finance
4. The paper of politics and the politics of paper
5. Revolutionary print
6. The book of nature and the books of man
7. Writing others and the self
8. Conclusion: information revolutions, past and present.
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