The Territory of the Historian

From inside dust cover flap: Focusing on life in rural societies of France during the modern period (from the end of the Middle Ages to the early 19th century) Le Roy Ladurie uses new sources and ingenious ways. He surveys the wide range of provinces open to quantitative historical investigation by analyzing such diverse historical elements as demography, public health and literacy, climate, and folklore and myth through a variety of engrossing case studies.