Victorian Family

<p>First published in 1978 this multi-disciplinary study embraces a wide selection of topics ranging from family intimacy and authoritarianism to the family as a unit for launching social reforms. Subjects treated in the nine essays include the Victorian attitude to childbirth the role of the nanny the power of the upper-class <i>paterfamilias</i> the pattern of family work and fertility and incest among the Victorian working classes. The book is introduced by a critical survey of the state of family history and the need for new studies.</p><p>From the essays the Victorian family emerges as both a refuge from society and a springboard into it and as an important unit for the study of the repression and exploitation of women and children in Victorian society. </p><p>This book will be of interest to those studying Victorian history and society. </p>