A hog faced woman, murderous wives, blackface pirates羅this rich collection of essays offers the latest word on British ballads from a wide spectrum of scholars in literature, ethnomusicology,
folklore, and history. Required reading for anyone with a sophisticated interest in pre-1800 popular culture in Britain and America.-Leah Marcus, Vanderbilt University, USA
Bringing together diverse scholars to represent the full historical breadth of the early modern period, and a wide range of disciplines (literature, women's studies, folklore, ethnomusicology,
art history, media studies, the history of science, and history), Ballads and Broadsides in Britain, 1500-1800 offers an unprecedented perspective on the development and cultural practice of
popular print in early modern Britain. Fifteen essays explore major issues raised by the broadside genre in the early modern period: the different methods by which contemporaries of the
sixteenth through nineteenth centuries collected and "appreciated" such early modern popular forms; the preoccupation in the early modern period with news and especially monsters; the
concomitant fascination with and representation of crime and the criminal subject; the technology and formal features of early modern broadside print together with its bearing on gender, class,
and authority/authorship; and, finally, the nationalizing and internationalizing of popular culture through crossings against (and sometimes with) cultural Others in ballads and broadsides of
the time.
Patricia Fumerton is Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Director of the online English Broadside Ballad Archive. Her many recent publications focus on the
early modern "low".
Anita Guerrini is Horning Professor in the Humnaities and Professor of History at Oregon State University. She has published widely in the history of early modern science.
Kris McAbeeis Assistant Professor of English at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock and formerly Assistant Director of English Broadside Ballad Archive. Her work explores Renaissance sonnet
and ballad culture.
