First published 2002
This scholarly examination explores how European families transformed during more than a century of unprecedented change. Kertzer traces ordinary people's domestic experiences from the French Revolution through World War I as industrialization, urbanization, and new technologies reshaped daily existence. The book investigates how families adapted when traditional patterns collided with modern economic demands. Railroad networks connected distant places while factory work pulled people from rural homes to crowded cities. The authors examine regional variations across Europe and demonstrate how the family unit evolved from earlier forms into recognizably modern structures. Social science research methods combine with cultural and gender history perspectives to reveal how political upheavals and economic transformations affected where people lived, how they worked, and whom they married. This volume forms the middle section of a three-part series chronicling European family development over four centuries.
Genres: history, family, 20th-century, non-fiction, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, scholarly, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-perspective, social-commentary
Setting: Europe
Period: 1789-1913
464 pages · Paperback · Yale University Press