Product Description: Some of the poorest regions of historic Britain had some of its most vibrant festivities. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the peoples of northern England, Lowland Scotland, and Wales used extensive celebrations at events such as marriage, along with reciprocal exchange of gifts, to emote a sense of belonging to their locality...read more

Incorporating the work of some of Scotland's leading historians, this definitive history of the country chronicles some eight thousand years, from the Neolithic period to the present day, covering the people and events that have shaped Scotland and furnishing essays on such topics as archaeology, economics, science, religion, literature, and other disciplines. Original.

"Literacy in Early Modern Europe" is an analysis of that momentous change in European society from widespread illiteracy in 1500 to mass literacy by 1800. The book explores the importance of education, literacy and popular culture in Europe during this critical transitional period and reveals their relationship to political, economic and social structures as both more complex and revealing than is usually believed. The value of the book lies in Dr Houston's use of material in all European languages; and his concentration on the experiences of ordinary men and women. What emerges is social history of early modern Europe itself. (view table of contents)

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Over the past twenty years population history has become a thriving field of research. In this concise volume, Dr. Houston reviews all the recent literature and explains the different population trends evident in parts of Britain and Ireland. He sets out the sometimes complex interactions among fertility, nuptiality, morality and migration in a clear and comprehensible way, and examines a wide range of topics such as plague and smallpox, childbirth, illegitimacy, migration within Britain and emigration to America. (view table of contents)