Table of Contents

Introduction: what is the public sphere? Part I. Politics and the Rise of Public Opinion: The Cases of England and France: 1. The peculiarities of the English; 2. Opacity and transparency: French political culture in the eighteenth century; Part II. Readers, Writers and Spectators: 3. Reading publics: transformations of the literary public sphere; 4. Eighteenth century authorship; 5. From courts to consumers: theatre publics; Part III. Being Sociable: 6. Enlightenment salons; 7. Drinking in public: taverns and coffeehouses; 8. Freemasons; Conclusion.

Promotional Information

James Melton's lucid and accessible 2001 study examines the rise of 'the public' in eighteenth-century Europe.

Reviews

'Melton's useful new book traces the explosion of public institutions in eighteenth-century England, France and the Germanies ... a rousing and touchingly old-fashioned defence of formal representative institutions.' JES ' ... among the most readable books on Europe's ancien regime to have been published in recent times. Melton is notably thoughtful and deeply considered.' The International History Review 'The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe is a well-written and coherent synthesis of Habermas' argument in the French, English and German contexts and is grounded in an impressive body of international, mainly Anglo-Saxon scholarship ... it will certainly be of vital interest to advanced undergraduate and graduate students ...'. Europa