The Practical Renaissance: Information Culture and the Quest for Knowledge in Early Modern England, 1500-1640 [Paperback]

What sort of information did people in early modern England seek? InThe Practical RenaissanceDonna Seger explores the diffusion and reception of prescriptive publications over the 16th and 17th centuries. Published in an age of dynamic religious and political change, these texts demonstrate the universal desire for health and wealth, a fortified body and an orderly household.

Showing how classical and continental information had been Englished over time, this book shows how new publications supplanted these traditional ideas with more empirical and authoritative knowledge. Published in an age of dynamic religious and political change, these texts, which include plague tracts, husbandry handbooks, printed recipe books, and navigation manuals, demonstrate the universal desire for health and wealth, a fortified body and an orderly household. Divided into three parts, the opening chapters explore factors which affected the diffusion of practical knowledge via prescriptive texts. Part two focuses on the interaction between new discoveries and traditional authority, and the final section considers debates in the 'medical marketplace', the term 'knowledge-mongerer' and the commodification of knowledge at this time.

A thorough exploration into the popular and pragmatic expressions of the period,The Practical Renaissanceoffers a new window into the movement in which knowledge and information became power.

The Practical Renaissanceis an ambitious survey of the terrain of practical knowledge in early modern England, as well as the diverse community of knowledge-mongers and readers that inhabited it. It will be of interest to historians and students who study any part of that terrain. The Journal of Modern History

This well written and well-argued work provides enough analysis to provide further avenues of research for the historian interelÃ=