Singing the News of Death

Across Europe, from the dawn of print until the early twentieth century, the news of crime and criminals'' public executions was printed in song form on cheap broadsides and pamphlets to be sold in streets and marketplaces by ballad-singers. Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900 looks at how and why song was employed across Europe for centuries as a vehicle for broadcast...