R.J. Morris reveals how middle class families survived and surmounted the economic difficulties of early industrial England through an examination of wills, family papers, property deeds, account books and letters from the period. He argues that these families were essentially "networked" families created and affirmed by "gift" networks of material goods, finance, services and support--with property very much at the center of their middle class family strategies.

R.J. Morris reveals how middle class families survived and surmounted the economic difficulties of early industrial England through an examination of wills, family papers, property deeds, account books and letters from the period. He argues that these families were essentially "networked" families created and affirmed by "gift" networks of material goods, finance, services and support--with property very much at the center of their middle class family strategies.