Recommended by
- Paul Graham Named in the same reading list in ‘RAQs’, where Graham recommends learning history piecemeal through books on specific topics rather than cover-to-cover surveys. source ↗
Summary
Peter Laslett's 1965 social history of pre-industrial England, arguing that the family structure and community life of the 16th and 17th centuries — before the Industrial Revolution uprooted traditional society — were more complex and less primitive than commonly assumed. Laslett used parish records and demographic data to challenge the idea that the modern nuclear family is a recent invention.