(in the old days with monks)
The subjects of most books were:

religious material
folklore
legends
current events

populist movement, in u.s. history, politically oriented coalition of agrarian reformers in the middle west and south that advocated a wide range of economic and political legislation in the late 19th century. thus in 1892 their leaders organized the populist, or people's, party, and the farmers' alliances melted away.