Table of Contents

Part 1 Opinions under scrutiny - the politics of censorship: the practice and impact of censorship in the streets of London; change and continuity of censorship under the long parliament; competing censors - the king and the parliament. Part 2 Opinions "en vogue" - the London pamphlet market: critical voices of "male-female" authors, printers, booksellers, and hawkers; the politics of printing and the distribution network of the London pamphlet market. Part 3 Religion, politics and popular literary genres: "base pictures putting me in a cage" - woodcuts as opinion leaders; "to be sung to the tune of..." - ballads as popular political commentators; "religion's made a tennis ball" - satirical and other observations of the time. Part 4 Talking politics - opinions, rumour and gossip: verbal graffiti - discontent with high politics in statements from below; vox populi - genres of talk and common interpretations of politics and religion 1637 to 1645. Part 5 The dynamics of communication: interfaces of orality and literacy; people in communication; gender and communication.

About the Author

Dagmar Freist was Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute in London.