Choice Review

In 1804, Dutch cleric, journalist, and author Willem Ockerse told an Amsterdam audience that the question "What's the news?" was the first one asked when one entered polite society, whether coffeehouse, coach, council chamber, theater, or even church. Ockerse's insight about the growing demand for news among ever-broader sectors of society and the concomitant growth of the periodical press during the 1760-1820 period is the theme of these highly useful essays by 11 primarily European and US scholars. Editors Barker (Univ. of Manchester) and Burrows (Univ. of Leeds) provide an introductory overview to these nine chapters focusing on individual countries, including the US, Germany, and France, and Burrows contributes a chapter on the "cosmopolitan press" designed for a pan-European, French-speaking, elite audience. The chapters demonstrate that during the period under study, newspapers and specialized journals had a generally highly restricted audience and were frequently subject to severe government controls. Along with other "public sphere" venues, such as reading rooms, cultural organizations, and coffeehouses, the publications created new spaces for public discourse that paved the way for the emergence of a genuine independent and mass politics during the 19th century. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. R. J. Goldstein Oakland University