Lady Alice Le Strange of Hunstanton in Norfolk kept a continuous series of household accounts from 1610-1654. The authors have used the Le Stranges' rich archives to reconstruct the material aspects of family life. This involves looking not only at purchases, but also at home production and gifts, and not only at the luxurious, but at the everyday consumption of food and medical care. Here the context of household consumption is illuminated, and instead...

"For too long F. R. Leavis has been reviled by the critical establishment. Gary Day explains why this has been the case and why it is time to meet the challenge of his work. In this groundbreaking and controversial book, Day shows that post-structuralism, which defined itself in opposition to Leavis, nevertheless repeats a number of his key ideas. This, he argues, represents a failure to read Leavis fully and, by implication, a failure to come to...