Table of Contents

1. Bricks without straw; bones without flesh; 2. Vital statistics; 3. Whatever happened to the preventive check?; 4. Family limitation; 5. The laws of vitality; 6. Mortality by occupation and social group; 7. The origins of the secular decline of childhood mortality; 8. Places and causes; 9. The demographic consequences of urbanisation; 10. The transformation of the English and other demographic regimes; 11. Conclusions and unresolved conundrums.

Promotional Information

Robert Woods examines the changing population history of England and Wales beween 1837 and 1914.

Reviews

'... by the end of his impressively researched book, confusion is not so much dispelled as replaced by an informed, honest sense of complexity and uncertainty.' Times Higher Education Supplement ' ... an invaluable source for understanding these profound changes in English and Welsh life.' Contemporary Review '... clearly written, handsomely illustrated and important book ... distinctive in the clarity and authority with which Woods sets out the demographer's approach, discusses sources and often highly technical methods ... it is a major achievement.' The English Historical Review 'The result will be greatly welcomed by a wide audience both as a source of information and for the balanced but often innovative way in which Woods has tackled the complex questions of causation and interpretation posed by the data ... this book will come to be regarded as having established the landscape of Victorian demography with unprecedented authority.' Progress in Human Geography 'Anyone henceforth following the exact path of the Western demographic transition will be indebted to this excellent, almost monumental study.' Population Studies