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In this exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England, David Cressy tackles important questions about the limits of participation in the mainstream of early modern society. To what extent could people at different social levels share in political, religious, literary and cultural life; how vital was the ability to read and write; and how widely distributed were these skills? Using a combination of humanist and social-scientific methods, Dr Cressy provides a detailed reconstruction of the profile of literacy in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, looking forward to the eighteenth century and also making comparisons with other European societies.

Sociology of culture --- History of civilization --- Mass communications --- anno 1600-1699 --- anno 1500-1599 --- Great Britain --- Literacy --- Alphabétisation --- Social aspects --- History --- Histoire --- Books and reading --- Popular culture --- Alphabétisation --- History. --- Arts and Humanities --- England --- Social conditions --- Intellectual life --- Appraisal of books --- Books --- Choice of books --- Evaluation of literature --- Literature --- Reading, Choice of --- Reading and books --- Reading habits --- Reading public --- Reading --- Reading interests --- Reading promotion --- Illiteracy --- Education --- General education --- Appraisal --- Evaluation

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Immigrants --- History --- New England --- England --- Emigration and immigration --- British --- Emigrants --- Foreign-born population --- Foreign population --- Foreigners --- Migrants --- Persons --- Aliens --- British people --- Britishers --- Britons (British) --- Brits --- Ethnology --- Northeastern States --- Angleterre --- Anglii︠a︡ --- Inghilterra --- Engeland --- Inglaterra --- Anglija --- England and Wales --- Immigrants - New England - History - 17th century --- New England - History - Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 --- England - Emigration and immigration - History - 17th century

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Curiosities and wonders --- -Curiosities and wonders --- -Eccentrics and eccentricities --- -England --- -Marginality, Social --- -Popular culture --- Popular culture --- #BIBC:ruil --- Culture, Popular --- Mass culture --- Pop culture --- Popular arts --- Communication --- Intellectual life --- Mass society --- Recreation --- Exclusion, Social --- Marginal peoples --- Social exclusion --- Social marginality --- Assimilation (Sociology) --- Culture conflict --- Social isolation --- Sociology --- People with social disabilities --- Cranks (Persons) --- Eccentricities --- Fixed ideas --- Characters and characteristics --- Personality --- Enigmas --- Facts, Miscellaneous --- Miscellaneous facts --- Oddities --- Trivia --- Wonders --- History --- -History --- -17th century --- Social life and customs --- Eccentrics and eccentricities --- Marginality, Social --- Culture --- England --- Angleterre --- Excentriques et excentricites --- Curiosites et merveilles --- Marginalite --- Culture populaire --- Moeurs et coutumes --- 16e siecle --- Histoire --- 17e siecle

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"This is the story of saltpeter, the vital but mysterious substance craved by governments from the Tudors to the Victorians as an 'inestimable treasure.' National security depended on control of this organic material - that had both mystical and mineral properties. Derived from soil enriched with dung and urine, it provided the heart or 'mother' of gunpowder, without which no musket or cannon could be fired. Its acquisition involved alchemical knowledge, exotic technology, intrusions into people's lives, and eventual dominance of the world's oceans. The quest for saltpeter caused widespread 'vexation' in Tudor and Stuart England, as crown agents dug in homes and barns and even churches. Governments hungry for it purchased supplies from overseas merchants, transferred skills from foreign experts, and extended patronage to ingenious schemers, while the hated 'saltpetermen' intruded on private ground. Eventually, huge saltpeter imports from India relieved this social pressure, and by the eighteenth century positioned Britain as a global imperial power; the governments of revolutionary America and ancien regime France, on the other hand, were forced to find alternative sources of this treasured substance. In the end, it was only with the development of chemical explosives in the late Victorian period that dependency on saltpeter finally declined."--Publisher's description.

Saltpeter --- Gunpowder --- Gunpowder industry --- Salpêtre --- Poudre à canon --- History. --- Industrie --- Histoire --- Explosives industry --- Niter --- Nitrate of potash --- Nitre --- Potassium nitrate --- Nitrate minerals --- Nitrates --- Potassium salts --- History

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