Anxieties of a Citizen Class

"This study examines the mental outlook of a social class, its preoccupations and anxieties, and its fears and expectations as reflected in a small but representative cross-section of its membership. The aggregate in question is the top segment of Venetian commoners, the cittadini originarii, the closest approximation to an urban upper middle class in the social fabric of the Serenissima."--Introduction, p. [1].