Traditionally, diplomacy has been defined as the formal exchange of ambassadors between sovereign states. There have always been problems with this, because there were also informal means of communication; in addition, merchants, political dissidents, spies, and travelers gathered information and passed on news. But the concept was so strongly reinforced by Garrett Mattingly's 1955 Renaissance Diplomacy that only recently was it challenged by advocates of the "New Diplomacy.". Few have taken on Mattingly's formulation as boldly as Pirillo. (Choice) The book provides an excellent and valuable study of the circulation of manuscripts in the first information age.In this portrayal of Venice in the Reformation, the author conveys the anxiety produced by the new media landscape. With his integration of book history with diplomacy, Pirillo makes an original and important contribution to the study of early modern Europe.

(Renaissance Quarterly) This is a fine contribution both to the religious history of the European Reformations and to diplomatic historiography and will surely have significant influence in the field. (AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW).