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Title: A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot by Peter Burke ISBN: 0-7456-2485-5 Publisher: Polity Pr Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: The References are Great! The style...
Comment: In 'A Social History of Knowledge,' Peter Burke provides a thorogh introduction to the evolution of knowledge throughout the Renaissance and Enlightenment. This book is a great read for anyone interested in how we developed our information apparatus. Professional Librarians and Science Studies researchers will be particularly pleased.
An overview of the book is provided by the table of contents:
- Professing Knowlege: The European Clerisy
- Establishing Knowledge: Institutions Old and New
- Locating Knowledge: Centres and Peripheries
- Classifying Knowledge: Curricula, Libraries, and Encyclopaedias
- Controlling Knowledge: Churches and States
- Selling Knowledge: The Market and the Press
- Acquiring Knowledge: The Reader's Share
- Trusting and Distrusting Knowledge: A Coda
Burke's writing is clear and cogent. He draws a clear thesis for each chapter and makes liberal use of references and anecdotes for support.
The greatest strength of this book lies in the depth of Burke's research. The footnotes and extensive bibliography are a treasure trove of secondary and primary resources for researchers. Unfortunately, the depth also accounts for the largest weakness of 'A Social History of Knowledge.'
While reading this book, it often seemed that Burke was just loosely stringing together paragraphs of quotations and anecdotes. Burke never altogether loses his reader, however, as he makes use of frequent summary paragraphs. This tempo of Burke's writing style provides for a very "skimmable" book that can frustrate those attempting to closely read the work.
My other criticism of this work lies in its warm-up and cool-down. The introduction is cursory and there in no conclusion that summarizes Burke's positions. The net result of these omissions is to create a hermetic work that frustrates those attempting to establish a dialectic with (or provide a citation to) Burke's ideas.
Overall, 'A Social History of Knowledge' is a valuable book for both researchers and the curious. My personal copy is well dog-eared and marked-up. I've even created an EndNote reference library based largely on Burke's citations. Therein lies the strength of this work; casual reader beware.
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Title: When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850 by Daniel R. Headrick ISBN: 0195153731 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images As Historical Evidence (Picturing History Series) by Peter Burke ISBN: 080143968X Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Renaissance Computer: Knowledge Technology in the First Age of Print by Neil Rhodes, Jonathan Sawday ISBN: 0415220645 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France by Robert Darnton ISBN: 0393314421 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet by Asa Briggs, Peter Burke ISBN: 0745623751 Publisher: Polity Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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