Ebook: Family history revisited: comparative perspectives

This collection of original essays by the leading scholars on the historical study of the family covers topics ranging from the timing of marriage and chldbearing to love, family relations, gender roles, aging, the relations between generations, and family and household dynamics among various social classes. The essays point to new directions in the field by examining the dimensions of family relations such as the role of love in the life of peasants, the interaction of children born out of wedlock with their fathers, the impact of property on family relations and the role of culture, as well as social structure in explaining family and life course patterns. Essays by Tamara Hareven and Peter Laslett discuss general developments in this field and their relationship to the larger understanding of social change.