Some were commemorations, describing grand processions and great events. Others were forms of protest, condemning what had already been or what could be. In either case they were cheap, easily
got on the streets, and anything but subtle. The content of the prints and tracts that came into London's urban market as the result of new printing technologies and better forms of
distribution was generally formed more of opinion than straight fact, but through such means Londoners could learn all they needed to know about their city's politics and society pretty much at
a glance. Monteyne (art, State U. of New York-Stony Brook) builds from significant new research on visual representation and identity as he describes art for the common people that taught about
the ravages of plague and fire, the rise of religious fear and anti-Catholicism, and the possibility of there being a new sort of urban environment. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland,
OR (booknews.com)
