ABSTRACT
Modern sociological analysis is combined with historical technique to produce P. Laslett's The World We Have Lost, an attempt to recreate the conditions of life in pre-industrial England, which not every historian wholly accepts, but which no one can fail to find stimulating. Multi-volume histories can be more useful than single-volume histories because of their detailed treatment of particular periods. There are many collections of articles on social topics, among which the following may be singled out: E. Power, Medieval People and G. Barraclough (ed.) Social Life in Early England for the earlier period; and J. H. Plumb (ed.) Studies in Social History on English social history after 1500. The old classic survey of social history, H. D. Traill and J. S. Mann (eds) Social England is still valuable because the articles in it by many authors draw on contemporary records and illustrations. .
