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Brand Luther: 1517, Printing, and the Making of the Reformation. By Andrew Pettegree. (New York: Penguin Press, Pp. xvi, 383. $29.95.)
Andrew Pettegree's Brand Luther: 1517, Printing, and the Making of the Reformation is not so much a biography of Martin Luther but rather a history of the development of German print culture in the first half of the sixteenth century. Pettegree poses the book's essential question in its preface: "How [did] an academic quarrel in northeastern Germany became the seed of a great movement" [?] (x). The answer centers on a new kind of polemic created by Luther that appeals to the hearts and minds of the German people. This "brand" of writing as well as Luther's decisive role in turning Wittenberg into the greatest producer of printed material were his major achievements and the fundamental concern of the book.
Pettegree's Luther might surprise some readers. Neither a fanatic in search of salvation nor a heroic monk defending the rights of conscience, the Luther presented here is, rather, a calculating businessman who is as...