The Talk of the Town

This is a superbly written, deeply researched book that will be essential reading for urban historians, scholars of early modern information history and print and of the Reformation.

Auteur
Carla Roth is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Basle. She studied history at the University of Zurich and at Balliol College, University of Oxford, completing her DPhil in 2016. Her research focuses on the cultural and social history of early modern Switzerland.

Texte du rabat

The Talk of the Town explores everyday communication in a sixteenth-century small town and the role it played in the circulation of information across and within early modern communities, using the notebooks of the St Gall linen trader Johannes Rütiner to gain unusual insights into an oral world, and show how conversation could shape society.

Contenu

• Introduction

• 1: Taking note of a 'wondrous time'

• 2: Informants and networks

• 3: Obscene humour and sociability

• 4: Gossip and the value of social knowledge

• 5: Rumour, news, and trust

• 6: Tales of the past

• Conclusion