1 - At the Origins of Germany’s Book Wars, 1770–1815

Summary

The book culture of the Protestant and Liberal establishment powerfully shaped Catholic reading behavior over the long term. It is necessary, therefore, to begin with a genealogy of this book culture, which achieved integrated form during the “Reading Revolution” of the late eighteenth century. The chapter also introduces the key “gustatory” metaphors of taste and consumption that structured the management of popular reading. It sets the stage, finally, for the Protestant-Catholic antagonisms that shaped Catholic reading so decisively in the nineteenth century.