Description: Now in its third edition, Peter Burke's 1978 book Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe has for thirty years set the benchmark for cultural historians with its wide ranging and imaginative exploration of early modern European popular culture. In order to celebrate this achievement, and to explore the ways in which perceptions of popular culture have changed in the intervening years a group of leading scholars are brought together in this new volume to examine Burke's thesis in relation to England. Adopting an appropriately interdisciplinary approach, the collection offers an unprecedented survey of the field of popular culture in early modern England as it currently stands, bringing together scholars at the forefront of developments in an expanding area. Concluded by an Afterword by Peter Burke, the volume provides a vivid sense of the range and significance of early modern popular culture and the difficulties involved in defining and studying it.
Review Quotes: 'The collection is nicely edited by Matthew Dimmock and Andrew Hadfield, who have made a fine selection from the original conference and presented us with a worthy addition to any library on early modern studies. It is enjoyable and most helpful.' Renaissance Quarterly 'This is a very useful text for anyone interested in the study of popular culture, or for those who simply want to learn more about early modern England. The essays are rich and diverse in methodology and subject matter that will appeal to literary, historical, and cultural scholars and students of the early modern period and beyond.' Sixteenth Century Journal 'These are all good and valuable essays.' Review of English Studies '... this essay collection makes evident that 'Shakespeare and popular culture' is an emergent and exhilarating field of study, and that it produces good academic reads.' Shakespeare Jahrbuch