《作为变革动因的印刷机》分两卷、共三部分。第一部分的重点是西欧从手抄书文化向印刷文化的过渡，尝试勾勒这一次传播革命的主要特征。第二部分和第三部分论述这次传播革命和其他社会发展的关系，这些变革通常被认为与其相关的中世纪到近代的过渡联系在一起。


Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein is an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th century France. She is well-known for her work on the history of early printing, writing on the transition in media between the era of 'manuscript culture' and that of 'print culture', as well as the role of the printing press in effecting broad cultural change in Western civilization...