Andrew Pettegree's Story about Brand Luther

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Book Report
Andrew Pettegree’s title of the book tells the entire story; “Brand Luther: How an Unheralded Monk Turned His Small Town into a Center of Publishing, Made Himself the Most Famous Man in Europe--and Started the Protestant Reformation.” The book offers a detailed narration of how a monk became the best-selling author. In his writing, Andrew describes how a one-customer book industry had a profound and substantial effect on the market and how it propelled a small town to become a source of interest.
Through the book, it is noticeable that Luther was a cultural icon who utilized the latest technology. For example, in some parts, Luther documented his ideas in vernacular so that non-clerics could read theology and the Bible. Luther’s motive was to illustrate the injustices by the catholic church (History.com). Brand Luther is a collection of how one religious individual brought change to the church. The change began in Wittenberg, which was a small town in Germany. Because of the town’s size, most people did not perceive anything good would stem from such an area.
Pettegree postulates that Wittenberg “…was a poor, unattractive town, with old, small, ugly wooden houses, more like a village than a town…” (Pettegree, 2015). However, its historical and cultural nature did not prevent it from becoming the global reformation source. Luther’s tactics of expressing his ideologies to the community paved the way for other people interested in the press and print. In his book, Pettegree aims to determine how an unpublished and obscure Roman catholic monk could move the world quickly. Therefore, Pettegree narrows down Luther’s actions and their impact on the community of Wittenberg and beyond, leading to Brand Luther’s creation.
    From the book, it is evident that no one thought that the small town of Wittenberg in Germany would become the epitome of Christian printing and the reformation movement’s oasis. Luther would become involved in all the essentials of printing. He came up with what we now know as a pamphlet, and it would be written not in Latin, for scholars and royalty, but in German. Besides, Martin would write the booklet in simple terms because he aimed to reach all the people, making it possible to understand his message.
Notably, this style of writing is what sets Luther and his message off to a running start. Luther was a determined monk who wanted to shed light on the injustices of the catholic church. Therefore, he essentially used creativity and his resources of the printing press to achieve his goals. The story is about Luther, “…the intense monk, into a bestselling author; of the book industry, shaken from its roots in a scholarly, Latinate book world by the emergence of a mass-market; and of Wittenberg…” (Pettegree, 2015).
Researchers aver that the new way of creating books or pamphlets for everyone grew Wittenberg to become the center of the printing world in Europe. This unique style spread throughout Europe. Even today, the Christian church uses pamphlets and tracks to help spread the gospel. Luther was...