The Consumption of Culture, 1600-1800

Culture does not become "culture" until it is consumed. This is the radical interpretation of early modern social history presented in this text. Specialists from North America and Europe explore topics such as the formation of a culture consuming public, the development of a literary canon, the role of consumption in the formation of the modern state, elite and popular forms of cultural consumption, and the place of women as consumers of culture. The result is an important approach to the study of the 17th and 18th centuries.