Steinberg (Italian, U. of Chicago) looks closely at the history of the growth of lyric poetry, particularly that of Dante, in the milieu of this new freedom and new responsibility for how and what one learned. His research into the physical remains of this burst of literacy, the copies the newly initiated made of Dante's works and the close records Dante kept of what others copied of his work. Steinberg analyzes archival documents such as the Memoriali bolognesi and the register-book Vaticano Latino 3793 for evidence of how these merchants and notaries gathered and copied anthologies for personal reading, building rich historical, political and social contexts for the poetical debates of Dante's day and Dante's interpretations of how his reading public responded. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)