Print Culture and the Modern World

By the mid-eighteenth century, there was a common conviction that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment. Many believed that books could change the world, liberate society from despotism and tyranny. They felt that it would herald a time when reason and intellect would rule.
Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a novelist in eighteenth-century France, said that the printing press was the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion was the force that will sweep despotism away.
In many of Mercier's novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading and become enlightened in the process. He was convinced that the power of print would bring enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism.
Mercier proclaimed: ‘Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!'
Print popularised the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. Their writings provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism. They argued for the rule of reason rather than the rule of custom, and demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and rationality.
The Enlightenment thinkers attacked the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state. This wore down the legitimacy of a social order based on tradition. The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely; and those who read these books saw the world through new eyes, eyes that were
Questioning, critical and rational.