Politicians and Pamphleteers

Jason Peacey, University College London, UK

• Contents: Introduction; Part 1 The Motor of Propaganda: Politicians and the propaganda impulse; Authors and the propaganda impulse. Part 2 The Mechanics of Propaganda: Decoding pamphlets; Licensing and propaganda; Politicians and the press; Politicians and the writing process. Part 3 The Dynamics of Propaganda: The limits of propaganda; The propagandist and the politician. Epilogue: Propaganda, the state, and the public sphere; Bibliography; Index.

'Peacey's account is convincing and astonishingly well-researched. It will be required reading for anyone interested in early modern British print culture.' History '... a useful study of the ties between propaganda and state formation. [The author's] analysis of the relationship between political figures and writers, and his exploration of the social, political, and military contexts of the creation and transmission of propaganda will prove valuable to scholars working on seventeenth-century history and print culture.' Sharp News 'Peacey [...] provides his readers with a closely argued and deeply researched journey through the political and polemical literature which was produced between 1640 and 1660... His voluminous reading is well documented in the footnotes which are printed (how nice for the reader) where they should be, in this beautifully produced volume. Testimony to Peacey's mastery of primary sources is abundant and the book provides an excellent reference source for anyone working in this area.' Parergon 'Peacy's book will become required reading for historians interested in the political history and print culture of mid-seventeenth-century England.' Journal of Modern History 'This is an important contribution from a historian who has in recent years quietly emerged as one of our leading experts on the history of revolutionary England.' Sixteenth Century Journal