The book charts an extraordinary period in Danish history: the Press Freedom Period of 1770-73
in which King Christian 7's physician J.F. Struensee introduced a series of radical
enlightenment reforms beginning with the total abolishment of censorship. The book investigates
the sudden avalanche of pamphlets and debates initiating the modern public sphere of
Denmark-Norway. Publications show a surprising variety from serious political economic and
philosophical treatises over criticism polemics ridicule entertainment and to spin
campaigns obscenities libel threats. A successful coup against Struensee led to his
subsequent public execution in Copenhagen and the latter half of the period saw the gradual
smothering of the new public sphere as well as an international pamphlet storm over what was
happening in Denmark. Readers all over Europe proved curious to learn about the radical
experiment with enlightened absolutism in Denmark interest was heightened by the involvement
of the Danish Queen the English princess Caroline Matilda to whom Struensee had an intimate
relation. The book is a detailed portrayal of a seminal event in the development of the public
sphere in Europe.
