Laughing Histories breaks new ground by exploring moments of laughter in early modern Europe, showing how laughter was inflected by gender and social power.

Joy Wiltenburg, Professor Emerita of History at Rowan University, studies the cultural history of early modern Europe. Her publications include Disorderly Women and Female Power in the Street Literature of Early Modern England and Germany (1992) and Crime and Culture in Early Modern Germany (2012).

Introduction: Laughter and Early Modern Europe, 1. Laughter and Power: The Politics of Laughter, 2. The Laughter of Aggression: Benvenuto Cellini, 3. The Laughter of Social Bonding: Felix Platter, 4. Laughter, Gender, and Sex: Dorothy Osborne, 5. Courtly Laughter: Madame de Sévigné, 6. Laughter and the Rising Man: Samuel Pepys, 7. Laughter as Social Commodity: Hester Thrale and Friends, 8. The Lessons of Laughter