As Various as Their Land: The Everyday Lives of Eighteenth Century Ameicans

The outstanding characteristic of 18th-century life in America was the diversity of individual experiences, observes Wolf, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Well researched and written like a high school textbook, this study deals with an extraordinary variety of people in equally manifold circumstances: urban and rural dwellers, laborers and land owners, slaves, impoverished immigrants and Amerindians. Their lives were impacted, first by the codification of slavery in the early 1700s and then, after the Revolutionary War, by a drastically altered political structure. Quoting from letters, diaries and other records detailing the daily lives of both men and women, Wolf traces changes in areas of life from child rearing to technology. The beginnings of consumerism and the emergence of new communities are also documented. Illustrations not seen by PW. (July)