Paper Memory

“Twentieth-century denizens caught up in their e-culture world can sympathize with Weinsberg’s virtues—his love of family, toleration, humility, self-confession, even his desire to live on after death—as he sought to make sense of a new identity in a changing world.”—D.C. Baxter, Choice

“A vivid and engaging account of the daily life of a burgher from sixteenth-century Cologne. Lundin deftly analyzes Weinsberg’s unique writings in order to capture his personal response to the broad cultural developments of his time and place, from the rise of humanism to the religious violence that accompanied the splintering of Christianity. Paper Memory demonstrates the impact of major historical movements on individual experience. This is scholarship of the highest caliber.”—Ann Blair, Harvard University

“Lundin’s account of Weinsberg’s life is rich, nuanced, and original. He pulls apart the inconsistencies and contradictions in Weinsberg’s voluminous private writings in order to reveal one man’s attempt to engage with and overcome the insecurities of urban life in a time of social, economic, cultural, and religious turmoil. It is rare that a book allows us to come so close to the emotions and motivations of a sixteenth-century burgher. Paper Memory will appeal to historians, literary scholars, and anyone interested in the social, cultural, and religious history of early modern Europe.”—Marc R. Forster, Connecticut College