Flesh and spirit

"Family life in preindustrial Europe has been considered by historians to have been far different from family life today. It has been portrayed as impersonal, businesslike, communal. Now, in perhaps the most penetrating look at the family cycle of late-fifteenth-century to early seventeenth-century Germany, Steven Ozment illuminates what family life of the time was actually like. As he did in his much praised The Burgermeister's Daughter, Ozment, who is the McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University, analyzes and weaves together primary sources to create a compelling account of family: courtship, marriage, pregnancy, child rearing, and the establishment of new families."--BOOK JACKET.