This text about the history of family life approaches the topic on several levels. The author's main thesis considers the European family in relation to the differences between European economic and social development and that of the rest of the world.

One of the prevailing myths about the American family is that there once existed a harmonious family with three generations living together, and that this "ideal" family broke down under the impact of urbanization and industralization. The essays in this volume challenge this myth and provide dramatic revisions of simplistic notions about change in the American family. Based on detailed research in a variety of sources, including extensive oral history interviews of ordinary people, these essays examine major changes in family life, dispel myths about the past, and offer new directions in research and interpretation. The essays cover a wide spectrum of issues and topics, ranging from the organization of the family and household, to the networks available to children as they grow up, to the role of the family in the process of industralization, to the division of labor in the family along gender lines, and to the relations between the generations in the later years of life. While discussing family relations in the past and revising prevailing notions of social change, these interdisciplinary essays also provide important perspectives on the present.

While historians have written with ease about the state and the church, the family has so far defied historical analysis. As the primary cell of human social organisation, upon which both state and church depend, it is of crucial importance. In this concise, informative and stimulating book, Rosemary O'Day seeks to explain the difficulties facing the historian of the family and to suggest strategies for their solution. She compares families and households in time, space and economy over the period 1500-1914 and draws together the important existing work.

The history of family and households has been the subject of intensive research for over a generation. In the 1970s Peter Laslett and others set the agenda with a strong emphasis on geographical differences between northern and southern, eastern and western Europe. Others have challenged this view, pioneering different approaches. This volume takes stock of the field, focussing particularly on family history in South-East Europe in comparison with the rest of Europe. The authors consider what European families have in common, their regional and local differences and changes over time, using the rich and fascinating variety of sources and methods used by family historians today. Contributors include: Guido Alfani, Judit Ambrus, Mirjana V. Bobić, Siegfried Gruber, Peter Guzowski, Violetta Hionidou, Daniela Lombardi, Beatrice Moring, Silvia Sovič, Pat Thane, Alice Velková, Marta Verginella, and Pier Paolo Viazzo.

This is a major new textbook, designed for students in all disciplines seeking an introduction to the very latest research on all aspects of women's lives in Europe from 1500 to 1750, and on the development of the notions of masculinity and femininity. The coverage is geographically broad, ranging from Spain to Scandinavia, and from Russia to Ireland, and the topics investigated include the female life-cycle, literacy, women's economic role, sexuality, artistic creations, female piety - and witchcraft - and the relationship between gender and power. To aid students each chapter contains extensive notes on further reading (but few footnotes), and the approach throughout is designed to render the subject in as accessible and stimulating manner as possible. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe is suitable for usage on numerous courses in women's history, early modern European history, and comparative history.