Life Cycles in England equips and encourages students of social istory at all levels to engage with source materials. The theme of the book is the human life-cycle, and in the first section each chapter deals with a different part of this cycle, from birth through childhood and youth to marriage, old age and death. Life Cycles in England features an outline of the life cycle of men and women in England, roughly between 1650 and 1720; a collection of extracts from a broad range of texts written in the period, together with an accompanying commentary; and a collection of photographs and images and artefacts from the period.

These features combine to provide the student with a lively and accessible introduction to the discipline of social history and a rich resource of material for continuing study.