Family Ties: English Families 1540-1920

This vivid and accessible introduction contributes to the academic and popular debate on the family by providing an exploration of the dynamics of life in English families of all ranks from the mid-sixteenth century to the end of World War I. Organized both chronologically and thematically, and accompanied by sections on methods, approaches and sources, it allow readers new to the study of the past to explore some of the historians fundamental concerns: cause and effect; continuity and change, and the nature and reliability of evidence. It also enables readers to explore a number of sub-themes such as the history of childhood or of marriage across a broad social and chronological span. The author draws on a rich vein of personal testimony by including extensive contemporary quotations supported by a variety of unusual and, in many cases, previously unpublished illustrations, many commissioned by the families they portray. A wide range of sources are considered including visual evidence such as images, artifacts and buildings. The book provides a fascinating insight into methods of historical investigation and encourages the reader to become a sceptical and imaginative investigator prepared to venture beyond the historian’s traditional documentary sources.