Publisher: Cornell University Press

Inspired by the reading and writing habits of citizens leading up to the French Revolution, The Writing Public is a compelling addition to the long-running debate about the link between the Enlightenment and the political struggle that followed. 

Elizabeth Andrews Bond scoured France's local newspapers spanning the two decades prior to the Revolution as well as its first three years, shining a light on the letters to the editor. A form of early social media, these letters constituted a lively and ongoing conversation among readers.

Bond takes us beyond the glamorous salons of the intelligentsia into the everyday worlds of the craftsmen, clergy, farmers, and women who composed these letters. As a result, we get a fascinating glimpse into who participated in public discourse, what they most wanted to discuss, and how they shaped a climate of opinion.

The Writing Public offers a novel examination of how French citizens used the information press to form norms of civic discourse and shape the experience of revolution. The result is a nuanced analysis of knowledge production during the Enlightenment.

Thanks to generous funding from Ohio State University and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access (OA) volumes, available on the Cornell University Press website and other Open Access repositories.
 

Reviews:

"The Writing Public skillfully illuminates a question that many historians have tried to answer: what were people reading on the eve of the French Revolution, and how did their reading affect their world view?"

--David Garrioch, Monash University, author of The Huguenots of Paris and the Coming of Religious Freedom

"By uncovering and investigating some 7,000 letters to the editor in provincial newspapers, The Writing Public paints a stunning portrait of the Enlightenment as a lively dialogue among diverse participants. An impressive and original contribution."

--Suzanne Desan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, co-editor of The French Revolution in Global Perspective