This text offers an overview of the findings of a wide-ranging set of studies that, in recent decades, have highlighted the crucial role played by the press and censorship and the development of public opinion in the formation of modern Europe. The author critically chronicles the history of books (with a special focus on the advent of freedom of the press), re-interprets the evolution of ecclesiastic censorship (assessing its cultural and civil consequences), describes how European public opinion took shape, and addresses novel topics such as the reasons underlying the prolonged absence of the press in the Arab-Muslim world. The analysis of historical processes that involve the press, censorship and public opinion allows the author to identify useful keys for understanding current changes in the public sphere.

Sandro Landi teaches Modern History at Michel de Montaigne University in Bordeaux.