This collection of essays contains a wealth of information on the nature of the family in the early modern period. This is a core topic within economic and social history courses which is taught at most universities.
The book gives readers an overview of how feminist historians have been interpreting the history of the family, ever since Laurence Stone's seminal work FAMILY, SEX AND MARRIAGE IN ENGLAND 1500-1800 was published in 1977.
The book is divided into three coherent parts on the following themes: bodies and reproduction; maternity from a feminist perspective; and family relationships. Each part is prefaced by a short introduction commenting on new work in the area. This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers because of its sociological, historical and economic foci.
1. Attitudes to menstruation in seventeenth-century England
Appendix to chapter ¿ Attitudes to pregnancy, from a woman's spiritual diary, 1687¿8
2. Sexual knowledge in England, 1500¿1750
3. The construction and experience of maternity in seventeenth-century England
4. Blood and paternity
5. ¿The sucking child¿: Adult attitudes to child care in the first year of life in seventeenth-century England
6. Katharine and Philip Henry and their children: A case study in family ideology
7. Sibling relationships
Professor Crawford has been working in women¿s history since the 1970s. She is the author of Women and Religion in England 1500-1720, Women in Early Modern England (with Sara Mendelson) and Women¿s Worlds in Seventeenth-Century England: A Sourcebook (with Laura Gowing).