Print, Power, and Authority in Early Modern Europe
When we look back at Gutenberg’s printing press, the standard historical narrative usually centers on the numbers: cheaper texts, a surge in literacy, and a sudden explosion of available information. But does focusing purely on book production miss the most radical aspect of the print era?
Listen on:
Episodes
Monday Jun 08, 2026
Monday Jun 08, 2026
This episode explores how movable type did not just make communication faster; it structurally redistributed authority. By allowing ideas, criticisms, and opinions to travel independently of direct personal transmission, print shattered the information monopoly held by medieval institutions like the churches, royal governments, and elite universities.