Interrogates the belief that the clergy defined German Catholic reading habits, showing that readers frequently rebelled against their church's rules.

Jeffrey T. Zalar is Associate Professor of History and the inaugural holder of the Ruth J. and Robert A. Conway Endowed Chair in Catholic Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He writes and lectures on the cultural and intellectual history of Roman Catholicism, the history of modern German religion, and the history of modern knowledge.

Introduction; 1. At the origins of Germany's book wars, 1770-1815; 2. Gall and honey in the Catholic theology of cultural taste; 3. Reading run amok in Prussia triumphant, 1815-1845; 4. Book mischief in the 'papal monarchy', 1845-1880; 5. Catholics and their 'deficit in education'; 6. The tail wags the dog: the lay rebellion against Catholic libraries after 1880; 7. Brave new world: lay reading in the libraries they want; 8. An appetite for pleasure: private reading in Germania Profana; Conclusion.