Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this book is the scholarly answer to “buy local.” Wood works from the idea that “rulers made the common assumption that governance depended on the local level.” He claims that an examination of how this conceit played out at the level of neighborhood life and regulation is a useful way to probe the dynamics of English society at the ground level in the years leading up to the Civil War (218). In looking at how social, religious, and personal issues manifested in neighborhoods—both urban and rural—Wood presents a picture of life that was largely a mix of good news and bad news, setting many instances of faith, hope, and charity beside the harsh laws and treatment of both the village poor and the many vagrants on the road. Moreover, the difficult (and often short) lives of men, women, and children at the...

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