The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the University of Massachusetts Press have published “Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies After Elizabeth L. Eisenstein.” Edited by Sabrina Alcorn Baron, Eric N. Lindquist, and Eleanor F. Shevlin, the collection of essays about print culture from Renaissance Europe to the contemporary digital world builds on Eisenstein’s 1979 work, “The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformation in Early-Modern Europe.” A symposium featuring several contributors to the new publication was held at the Library on Nov. 2.
Inspiring debate since its publication nearly 30 years ago, Eisenstein’s book has been its own force as an agent of change in the world of scholarship. Its groundbreaking themes have played a central role in shaping the study of print culture and “book history”—fields of inquiry that rank among the most exciting and vital areas of scholarly endeavor in recent years.
“Agent of Change” features essays by 20 leading scholars who explore Eisenstein’s legacy on print-culture studies. The symposium featured three papers by contributors and a roundtable discussion about the current state of print-culture studies. Eisenstein, professor of history, emerita, at the University of Michigan, participated in the roundtable discussion.
“Elizabeth Eisenstein was a member of the Center for the Book’s first national board and helped stimulate our continuing program of talks, symposia and publications in book and library history,” said John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book. “The center is pleased to be a co-publisher of the book and a co-sponsor, along with the Washington Area Group for Print Culture Studies, of the symposium.”To view a webcast of this symposium and other Center for the Book events, go to www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/cyber-cfb.html.