The Great Exchange: Making the News in Early Modern Europe
(Joad Raymond Wren, Allen Lane, £40)
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This isn't a book about the history of newspapers, but of news itself, and the many ways in which it has manifested over time-from pamphlets and personal diaries to chronicles. Wren's key point is that what we think of as 'news' predated newspapers, which can be easily overlooked in the media-saturated present day.
In Wren's telling, the real history of the news isn't just a chronology of technological inventions, but one that encompasses the development of early postal services and establishment of trading routes.
It's also fascinating to read how our conception of an 'editor' began centuries ago, with individuals collating bits and pieces of news from different sources and writers — with no regard for copyright or editorial stances — in order to produce the first 'news' pamphlets.
This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine.