Product Description

  There are many different views as to how the family evolved in early modern England. Designed to stimulate interest in a fascinating and important topic, Family and Kinship in England, 1450-1800 offers an important and timely synthesis of the various arguments and provides answers to the questions they raise.  While historians have made the history of family life in the past a key area of scholarly study, the diversity of methods, sources, areas of interest and conclusions this has produced, have made it one of the most difficult for readers to approach. The aim of this book is to provide a guide to understanding families in the past.   It also gives a clear introduction to many of the intriguing areas of study that this field of history has opened up, including childhood, youth, marriage, sexuality and death. It provides clear signposts to how readers can pursue these and other topics. Through documents and illustrations it allows readers to begin to participate in the understanding of the history of family life which has determined the shape of own experiences of family life in the modern world.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59486 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
"this excellent treatise [provides] understanding of the evolution of the family and an insight into family life some 500 years ago, by examining childhood, adolescence, marriage and sexuality amongst other topics" Family Tree Magazine

 

'...very comprehensive in its scope' The Historical Association

From the Back Cover
While historians have made the history of family life a key area of scholarly study, the diversity of methods, sources, areas of interest and conclusions this has produced, have made it one of the most difficult for readers to approach.Family & Kinship in England 1450-1800 guides the reader through the changing relationships that made up the nature of family life. It gives a clear introduction to many of the intriguing areas of interest that this field of history has opened up, including childhood, youth, marriage, sexuality and death. The book provides:

• An understanding of how the family has developed from the late medieval period to the beginnings of industrialisation.
• A synthesis of the varied work of other historians, which helps to understand the often disjointed or contradictory research into this area.
• A glossary of technical terms used by historians to describe the family in the past.
• Contemporary documents and illustrations, allowing readers to familiarise themselves with the business of understanding people in the past.

Written in an engaging and accessible manner, Family & Kinship in England 1450-1800 stimulates interest in a fascinating topic and allows readers to pursue their own interests in the history of family life in the past. Will Coster is a Senior Lecturer in History at De Montfort University, Bedford.

About the Author
Will Coster teaches history at De Montfort University, Bedford.

---

Customer Reviews

an accurate and easily read book.
Having just completed a history module on family life in the period mainly covered by the book I found the book essential. The whole book is well constructed and would appeal to the general reader as well as professional historians and academics.The book would be of particular interest to anybody studying wills. I would recommend this book to anybody studying the changes in family life and religous rituals between the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution.