A printer from the 1500s magically catapulted into a print shop of the late 1700s would have found hand-operated, wooden presses little altered from his own time. Viewed from the standpoint of social practices, politics, and institutions, however, the change in communications was enormous.

What was this new public sphere? Part of the difficulty in defining it lies in the ambiguity of the word "public."

Publications weave invisible threads of connection among their readers. Once a newspaper circulates, for example, no one ever truly reads it alone.