The News Revolution in England Cultural Dynamics of Daily Information

With the birth of the commercial periodical in late seventeenth centuryEngland, news became a commodity. What constituted news, how it was presentedand received, and how people responded to it changed markedly. By carefullyplotting this revolution in information, and underscoring what the periodicalreplaced--the coffee house--Sommerville dramatically depicts how commercial newsleft its permanent imprint not only on what we think about, but how wethink.