The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660-1789

Description

In this fascinating new account of Old Regime Europe, T.C.W. Blanning explores the cultural revolution which transformed eighteenth-century Europe. During this period the court culture exemplified by Louis XIV's Versailles was pushed from the center to the margins by the emergence of a new kind of space - the public sphere. The author shows how many of the world's most important cultural institutions developed in this space: the periodical, the newspaper, the novel, the lending library, the coffee house, the voluntary association, the journalist, and the critic. Title Page Contents List of Plates List of Tables Introduction: The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture Overture Representational Culture and the Public Sphere The Nation Part I: Represenational Culture Chapter 1: Louis XIV and Versailles Chapter 2: The Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy Chapter 3: The Status of the Artist Part II: The Rise of the Public Sphere Chapter 4: Communications From Versailles to Paris The Public Literacy and Education Economic Expansion Urbanization Travelling and the Post The Reading Revolution Chapter 5: Markets Reading and Readers The Novel Periodicals and Newspapers Part III - Revolution Chapter 6: The rise of the Nation From Person to Concept: 'The King is Dead, Long Live the State!' The Prussian Way The Birth of German Nationalism Chapter 7: The British Way Handel, the Public Sphere, and the English Nation The Rise of English National Identity Protestantism The Second Hundred Years War Commerce Liberty and Patriotism George III: The Political Education of a Patriot King Conclusion Chapter 8: The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution The Musical Origins The Crisis of Legitimation Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the Absolute Monarchy Chapter 9: The Power of Culture Bibliography Index