TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Chapter One Introduction 3
Chapter Two Theory and History 18
Theories of the Early Public Sphere 21
Historical Revisionism 35
The Paradox of Innovation 39
Chapter Three Secrecy and Privilege 44
Principle 50
Contradictions between Secrecy Norms and Political Practice 61
Chapter Four Traditional Communicative Practice 68
Center to Periphery 69
Periphery to Center 75
Grievances and Petitions 81
Chapter Five News 100
Oral News: Rumors and Ballads 109
Scribal News 110
Chapter Six Printing and the Culture of Print 133
Presses and Printers 134
Legal and Political Issues 140
Authors and Sellers 145
Popular Literacy and Reading 150
Illicit Books 159
Appeals to Public Opinion in Religion to 1640 165
Chapter Seven Printing and Politics in the 1640s 174
Imposition of Dialogic Order on Conflict 176
Printed News 184
Printed Political Texts 197
Invoking Public Opinion 209
Chapter Eight Petitions 217
Petitions as Political Propaganda 221
Petitions as Indicators of Opinion in the Periphery 231
Petitions and Printing 240
The Paradox of Innovation in Petitioning 254
The Authority of Opinion 257
Toward Liberal Democracy 262
Chapter Nine Epilogue 266
Deism, Science, and Opinion 270
Contemporary Implications 275
Index 281
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