Gutenberg: A portrait. (Frank Talk).

Although he is heralded as the founding father of mass communication and even Western civilization, we know almost nothing about the man called Johann Gutenberg. His entire life, from 1400 to 1468, was spent amid civil strife, religious conflicts, the Black Death, and endless lawsuits over loans, partnerships, and inheritances. He eventually lost it all, and the only thing we know for certain about the "man of the millennium" is the date he died.

Mainz, a town of 6000 souls, was important beyond its size for cloth-making and coin-minting. Patricians paid no taxes and used their connections with the Church to hold their property and wealth, while the guilds and common people ran the secular government and …