The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Volume 1

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein

Cambridge University Press, Sep 30, 1980 - History - 794 pages

Originally published in two volumes in 1980, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change is now issued in a paperback edition containing both volumes. The work is a full-scale historical treatment of the advent of printing and its importance as an agent of change. Professor Eisenstein begins by examining the general implications of the shift from script to print, and goes on to examine its part in three of the major movements of early modern times - the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science.

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Review: The Printing Press as an Agent of Change

User Review  - Anthony - Goodreads

Her thesis is such a good one that her defence of it gets very dull. It would have been interesting to discuss why China missed out on the Enlightenment, given that they had the Printing press before Europe.

About the author

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein was born Elizabeth Ann Lewisohn on October 11, 1923 in Manhattan, New York. She received a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1944 and master's and doctoral degrees in history from Harvard University. She taught at American University in Washington before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, where she taught until her retirement in 1988. She wrote several books during her lifetime including The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe, The First Professional Revolutionist, Grub Street Abroad: Aspects of the French Cosmopolitan Press From the Age of Louis XIV to the French Revolution, and Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The Reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to the Sense of an Ending. She died on January 31, 2016 at the age of 92.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Volume 1; Volumes 1 and 2 in One
• Author: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1980
• ISBN: 0521299551, 9780521299558
• Length: 794 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / General; History / Europe / Renaissance