The book by Professor of Contemporary History at the University of St Andrews and a recognized writer specializing in the Renaissance era, Andrew Pettigrew, was first published in 2015 and was enthusiastically received by critics and American media. The New Yorker called it a “revelatory story,” and literary critic Adam Kirsh noted that the book is “an outstanding prelude to the past that helps us understand our future.” The author covers nearly four centuries—from the pre-print era to 1800, from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution—studying in detail people’s instinct to seek news and their desire to be informed. The listener is offered a fascinating panorama of centuries with something truly multimedia: it incorporates every available way of spreading news—conversations and rumors, civic ceremonies and celebrations, church sermons and proclamations from public squares; and with the coming of the printing age—pamphlets, ballads, newspapers, and leaflets.