ABSTRACT
It is always tempting for the writer of a review to assert that the field has shown signs of great vitality, thus rendering the task more worthwhile and the essay of greater interest to the reader. Yet, in the case of historical demography, no invention is required, for the last thirty years have brought about a transformation of the field. Its exponents have been as imaginative in their uses of technique and source as they have been aware of the breadth of interpretation required for their findings. The field has emerged as lively and pro-ductive, with the 1970s and 1980s in particular witnessing a rapid increase in research and publication. Despite the occasionally disparaging remarks of more traditionally-minded historians, historical demography has had little difficulty in establishing itself as a distinct field. To its preoccupations with the measurement of fertility and mortality have been added the study of marriage behaviour, of family and household and of migration. To the technical virtuosity of the modern demographer has been added the insight and imagination of the historian. The success of historical demography has been to show how the reconstruction of demographic behaviour of individuals and communities may provide a key to the understanding of past societies more generally.
