This is a wide-ranging presentation of the state of research in European family history. It considers what European families have in common as well as their regional and local characteristics, and illustrates the variety of approaches currently being adopted.

SILVIA SOVIČ (PhD, Essex) researches and publishes on 19th-century family history. In 2010 she organised the conference on 'The History of Families and Households: Comparative European Dimensions' on which this volume is based.
PAT THANE, PhD (LSE), FBA is Research Professor in Contemporary History, Kings College, London. Her many publications include: Old Age in English History. Past Experiences, Present Issues (OUP 2000) and Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? Unmarried Motherhood in Twentieth Century Britain with Tanya Evans (OUP 2012).
PIER PAOLO VIAZZO (PhD, London) was a Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and is now Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Turin. He is the author of Upland Communities (CUP 1989).