{"product_id":"ancestors-the-loving-family-in-old-europe-9780674004849","title":"Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe","description":"\u003cp\u003eRescuing the premodern family from the grim picture many historians have given us of life in early Europe, \u003ci\u003eAncestors\u003c\/i\u003e offers a major reassessment of a crucial aspect of European history--and tells a story of age-old domesticity inextricably linked, and surprisingly similar, to our own. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn elegant \u003ci\u003esumma\u003c\/i\u003e on family life in Europe past, this compact and powerful book extends and completes a project begun with Steven Ozment's \u003ci\u003eWhen Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe\u003c\/i\u003e. Here Ozment, the leading historian of the family in the middle centuries, replaces the often miserable depiction of premodern family relations with a delicately nuanced portrait of a vibrant and loving social group. Mining the records of families' private lives--from diaries and letters to fiction and woodcuts--Ozment shows us a preindustrial family not very different from the later family of high industry that is generally viewed as the precursor to the sentimental nuclear family of today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAncestors\u003c\/i\u003e, we see the familiar pattern of a domestic wife and working father in a home in which spousal and parental love were amply present: parents cherished their children, wives were helpmeets in providing for the family, and the genders were nearly equal. Contrary to the abstractions of history, parents then--as now--were sensitive to the emotional and psychological needs of their children, treated them with affection, and gave them a secure early life and caring preparation for adulthood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs it recasts familial history, \u003ci\u003eAncestors\u003c\/i\u003e resonates beyond its time, revealing how much the story of the premodern family has to say to a modern society that finds itself in the throes of a family crisis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOzment, Steven:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Steven Ozment is McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University. He is the author of Flesh and Spirit and The Bürgermeister's Daughter.","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50326838411538,"sku":"9780674004849","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0758f2f9-141d-44bb-b5f6-06a90ed6dc72.jpg?v=1727706054","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ancestors-the-loving-family-in-old-europe-9780674004849","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}