Search results for ""Author Joseph Klaits""

In the late seventeenth century the role of printed propaganda in manipulating public consciousness became increasingly explicit, and governments developed systematic controls over the printed word. This book considers the purposes, mechanisms, content, and audience of royal printed propaganda in early modern France. The author first sketches the impact of the invention of printing and characterizes propaganda generally during the reign of Louis XIV. In succeeding chapters he discusses the theory and practice of censorship and the government's relationships with the recently established French periodical press, presenting a balanced portrait of the crown's objectives and mixed success in influencing the sources of opinion. The varieties of government-inspired pamphlet propaganda are carefully and extensively analyzed, and signed royal propaganda receives special attention. Originally published in 1977. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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This is the first book to consider the general course and significance of the European witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries since H.R. Trevor-Roper's classic and pioneering study appeared some fifteen years ago. Drawing upon the advances in historical and social-science scholarship of the past decade and a half, Joseph Klaits integrates the recent appreciations of witchcraft in regional studies, the history of popular culture, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to better illuminate the place of witch hunting in the context of social, political, economic and religious change."In all, Klaits has done a good job. Avoiding the scandalous and sensational, he has maintained throughout, with sensitivity and economy, an awareness of the uniqueness of the theories and persecutions that have fascinated scholars now for two decades and are unlikely to lose their appeal in the foreseeable future." —American Historical Review"This is a commendable synthesis whose time has come. . . . fascinating . . . " —The Sixteenth Century Journal" . . . comprehensive and clearly written . . . An excellent book . . . " —Choice"Impeccable research and interpretation stand behind this scholarly but not stultifying account . . . " —Booklist"A good, solid, general treatment . . . " —Erik Midelfort"Servants of Satan is a well written, easy to read book, and the bibliography is a good source of secondary materials for further reading." —Journal of American Folklore

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