The Information Master: Jean-Baptiste Cobert's Secret State Intelligence System

Reference Type Book
Year of Publication
2009
Author
Author: Jacob Soll
Language
English
Number of Pages
277 pp.
Publisher
University of Michigan Press
City
Ann Arbor, MI
Region
Europe
Library Type
Archives and Special Collections
Private/Personal Library
State/Government Libraries
Chronological Period
17th century
ISBN
9780472116904
Annotation

Colbert (1619 –1683) served the French monarchy. Examines his collection and use of information. 

Contents: 

  • Between public and secret spheres : the case of Colbert
  • Colbert's cosmos : the expert and the rise of the modern state
  • The accountant and the coups d'etat
  • Royal accountability: Louis XIV and the golden notebooks
  • The rule of the informers
  • Managing the system: Colbert trains his son for the great intendancy
  • From universal library to state encyclopedia: Colbert's House of Solomon
  • Jean-Baptiste Colbert's Republic of Letters: the state control of knowledge
  • The information state in play: archives, erudition, and the affair of the regale
  • The system falls apart, but the state remains
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