The History of the European Family: Family life in the long nineteenth century, 1789-1913

This volume deals with family life in Europe -- and the institutional, economic, political, and cultural forces that transformed it -- from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Chapters consider, for example, the family's housing, diet, and domestic organization; the nature of family law; the impact of religious change; demographic factors such as disease and childhood mortality; relations between parents and children; and the effect of changing trends in marriage, divorce, and extended kin relationships. Using research techniques from the social sciences as well as new insights from cultural and gender history and the history of sexuality, the contributors present a vivid picture of family life in early modern times that will forever change our image of that era. Book jacket.