Product Description

In this fascinating guide to European homes, families, and possessions of the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, Raffaella Sarti invites us to return to earlier times and observe the daily lives of masters and servants, parents and children, husbands and wives. 'This vivid book takes readers through the daily life of European families at every economic level over three centuries ... This book, with its clear writing and wealth of arresting details, will fascinate and beguile the general reader.' Atlantic Monthly 'The most fascinating work I have read this year.' Eric Hobsbawn, BBC History Magazine 'Sarti deals with a subject of widespread curiosity: how people actually lived in the past. Hers is a wonderful book, tackling questions about housing, furnishings, food, dining, and clothes, and providing one fascinating discussion after another.' David Kertzer, Brown University 'Like a miracle, Raffaella Sarti brings our European ancestors to life.' Jaques le Goff Raffaella Sarti teaches early modern history at the University of Urbino, Italy, and is associate member of the Centre de Recherches Historiques of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.